THE 

INVISIBLE 
MIGHT 

ROB  ERT     B  OWN  AN 


6 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


THE 
INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


BY 
ROBERT  BOWMAN 


NEW  YORK 

McBRIDE,  NAST  &  COMPANY 
1915 


Copyright,     1915,    by 
McBmDE,  NAST  &  Co. 


First  Published  in  1915 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


2228052 


THE 
INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


THE  soft  greenish  sheen  of  a  Russian 
twilight  was  lingering  in  an  upper 
room  of  the  great  Slavyanski  Bazaar  Ho- 
tel in  Moscow  on  a  spring  evening  in  the 
year  188-.  At  a  writing-table,  which 
stood  in  front  of  one  of  the  great  windows 
reaching  from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling,  a 
woman  sat  nervously  fingering  a  pen. 
Twice  she  dipped  the  pen  in  ink,  and  each 
time  laid  it  down  without  a  word  being 
written.  Then  a  third  time  she  took  up 
the  pen,  and  with  a  stifled  sigh  of  despe- 
rate weariness  began  to  write  hurriedly — 
i 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


"To    MONSIEUR    PAUL    ALEXANDRITCH 

MARDOFF, 

"Dom  Mardova, 
"  Petersburg. 

"Do  not  let  the  receipt  of  this  disturb 
you  with  the  fear  of  many  letters.  It  is, 
however,  right  that  you  should  know  what 
I  have  done  about  the  mine.  M.  Pallatin 
has  recommended  to  me  an  English  engi- 
neer, M.  Forty,  who  called  upon  me  here 
this  morning;  he  is  now  on  his  way  to  Lon- 
don, but  is  returning  immediately,  and  will 
come  to  Mardova  in  about  six  weeks'  time 
to  make  an  examination  of  the  mine;  he 
says  such  an  ore  could  be  readily  sold. 

"M.  Pallatin  thinks  the  Kazan  wharf- 
age should  bring  thirty  thousand  roubles ; 
I  have,  therefore,  instructed  him  to  sell, 
and  to  be  prepared  for  further  sales  should 
more  money  be  needed.  It  is  clearly  un- 
derstood that  you  shall  not  be  called  upon 
in  any  way. 

"M.  Pallatin  also  informed  me  of  your 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


decision  not  to  come  to  Mardova  during 
my  detention  there.     Though  I  feel  sure 
this  decision  is  a  wise  one,  I  regret  it 
should  have  to  debar  you  from  your  estate, 
as  I  likewise  sincerely  regret  that  I  should 
be  the  means  of  affecting  your  standing 
with  the  Government  or  in  any  way  im- 
periling your  position.     I  can  only  hope 
that  the  Administrative  Order  will  soon  be 
relaxed;  though,  possibly,  I  shall  be  hap- 
pier at  Mardova  than  ever  I  have  been  in 
Petersburg.     I  also  agree  to  your  wish 
that  discussion  as  to  our  future  relations 
be  left  until  this  unhappy  affair  is  over, 
but  I  feel  you  are  right  in  believing  me  to 
be  only  a  hindrance  to  your  career;  and  I 
have  no  further  doubt  that  our  lives  will 
be  better  apart.     Never  once  in  the  whole 
ten  years  have  we  even  approached  to  a 
sympathetic    understanding   of   one    an- 
other.    If  the  fault  has  been  mine,  it  has 
not  been  wilfully  so;  my  desire  has  been 
otherwise;  and  the  memory  of  the  hope- 
fulness with  which  I  began  our  married 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


life  only  adds  to  the  hopelessness  of  its 
ending. 

"YELAINA  GRIGOROVNA  MABDOVA/' 

She  hesitatingly  sealed  up  the  letter, 
and  sat  gazing  out  at  the  fading  light  in 
the  sky.  A  waiter  brought  in  a  tray  of 
candles,  two  of  which  he  placed  lighted  on 
her  writing-table. 

"You  need  not  draw  the  curtains,"  she 
said,  "and  will  you  please  send  my  maid  to 
me." 

"Liza,"  she  said,  as  the  girl  entered, 
"close  the  door  and  sit  down,  will  you?  I 
want  to  talk  to  you.  No,  not  there,"  as 
the  girl  was  about  to  take  a  seat  away  back 
in  the  room,  "sit  here  by  the  table.  We 
are  going  down  to  Mardova,  as  you  know, 
and  I  wanted  to  ask  you  whether  you  know 
just  why  I  am  going." 

.  "No,  Yelaina  Grigorovna — at  least" — 
the  girl  hesitated. 

"Don't  be  afraid,  Liza;  I  want  you  to 
know.  I  shall  feel  more  comfortable,  and 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


it  is  better  that  you  should  understand; 
besides,  perhaps  you  have  heard  foolish 
stories  from  the  other  servants  in  Peters- 
burg." 

"If  you  please,  Yelaina  Grigorovna, 

they  were  saying — they  were  saying " 

The  girl  grew  confused. 

"Never  mind  telling  me  what  they  said; 
the  truth  is  this,  Liza:  I  am  being  sent 
down  to  Mardova  by  an  Administrative 
Order — but  perhaps  you  do  not  know 
quite  what  that  means — I  am  in  disgrace 
with  the  Authorities." 

"Yes,  Yelaina  Grigorovna." 

"Some  of  my  correspondence  with  the 
Countess  Valletski  came  into  the  hands  of 
the  police — who  took  possession  of  her 
papers  after  her  death.  What  they  could 
find  wrong  in  any  of  my  letters  I  do  not 
know — I  do  not  understand.  However,  I 
am  to  be  limited  to  our  estate  for  the  pres- 
ent summer,  at  least." 

"Oh,  Yelaina  Grigorovna,  how  wicked 
of  them — how  dare  they  think  it  of  you!" 


6  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Oh,  of  course,  they  think  they  are  act- 
ing right — but  we  need  not  discuss  that. 
I  wanted  you  to  know  in  case  you  hear  any 
talk  while  we  are  at  Mardova." 

"No  one  had  better  say  anything  to  me 
about  it,  my  lady,  I  can  tell  them.  But, 
oh,  Yelaina  Grigorovna,  I  am  so  sorry." 

"You  are  a  good  girl,  Liza,  but  you 
need  not  be  sorry,  I  shall  have  plenty  to 
do.  For  one  thing,  I  am  hoping  to  have 
the  old  copper  mines  near  the  house 
opened  up — the  Englishman  whom  you 
saw  here  to-day  is  coming  to  see  what  can 
be  done,  and,  perhaps,  we  may  be  able  to 
find  work  for  quite  a  number  of  our  peo- 
ple before  the  winter  begins." 

"Oh,  that  would  indeed  be  good,  Ye- 
laina Grigorovna,"  said  the  girl,  with 
wide-open  eyes. 

"Now,  if  you  will  have  this  letter 
posted,"  handing  the  maid  the  letter  she 
had  just  written,  "you  may  prepare  me 
for  bed;  we  must  start  for  Nijni  early  to- 
morrow morning." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


"Yes,  my  lady;  they  say  the  Volga  is 
now  open  and  almost  free  of  ice." 

Two  mornings  later  the  Volga  lay  glit- 
tering in  the  sun  by  the  green-and-red 
roofs  of  the  wharves  at  Nijni  Novgorod, 
and  stretching  away  through  the  level  land 
to  meet  the  haze-girt  blue  of  the  sky,  while 
occasional  smooth  level  patches  amid  the 
ripples  showed  where  vestiges  of  ice  yet 
lingered.  Beyond  the  joy  of  the  first 
greenery  of  spring  is  the  thrill  of  breath- 
ing life  which  the  first  sight  and  scent  of 
open  water  brings  in  a  land  where  for  six 
silent  months  earth  and  water  are  hidden 
beneath  ice  and  snow. 

On  the  white  deck  of  the  Oofa  boat  Ye- 
laina  Grigorovna  stood  watching  these 
remnants  float  past  to  their  dissolution. 
The  feeling  of  being  on  the  water  was  de- 
lightful after  the  discomfort  of  the  long 
railway  journey  from  Moscow,  and  she 
drew  in  deep  breaths  of  air.  The  captain 
of  the  boat  bowed  obsequiously  before  her 
on  his  way  to  the  wheel-house. 


8  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"See,  how  beautiful!"  she  said,  as  one  of 
the  floating  patches  paused  an  instant, 
swung  round,  and  glittered  like  a  table  of 
diamonds  in  the  sun. 

"Yes,  Yelaina  Grigorovna,  prettier 
there  than  under  my  floats;  I  fear  I  can- 
not promise  you  a  quick  passage  with  those 
about,"  he  answered,  adding:  "Are  we 
not  to  be  honored  by  having  Paul  Alex- 
andritch  with  us  this  time?" 

"Paul  Alexandritch  is  detained  in 
Petersburg,"  she  answered. 

Presently  they  were  out  on  the  river, 
the  engines  causing  barely  a  tremor  of  the 
boat  as  she  was  borne  down  the  swift,  rush- 
ing current.  It  was  the  evening  of  the 
following  day,  however,  before  they 
brought  up  at  one  of  the  long  line  of  float- 
ing wharves  at  Kazan.  There  was  much 
cargo  to  load  and  unload,  the  captain  said, 
and  they  would  not  leave  again  till  about 
midnight.  So  Yelaina  placed  a  chair  on 
the  upper  deck,  and  strained  her  sight  to 
discern  among  the  trees  on  the  skyline  the 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  9 

roof  of  the  house  that  used  to  be  her 
father's,  which  she  only  left  on  her  mar- 
riage; while  up  and  down  the  gangways 
strings  of  dark-skinned,  shaven  Tartars 
passed,  bent  beneath  heavy  bales. 

The  gilded  domes  of  the  town  flashed  in 
the  evening  light,  and  as  they  faded  tender 
lights  crept  swiftly  into  the  sky,  lingered 
there  for  an  hour,  and  slowly  faded  into 
dusk,  and  lonely  lights  appeared  far  over 
the  river.  An  Astrakhan  boat,  its  tower- 
ing, three-storied  saloons  gleaming  white 
through  the  dusk,  came  alongside  the  next 
wharf — whither  the  bread  and  fruit 
sellers  and  hawkers  of  embroidered  slip- 
pers and  caps  had  hurried  some  while  be- 
fore, having  discovered  the  approach  of 
the  boat  long  before  it  was  visible  to  ordi- 
nary eyes.  But  the  twilight  softened  all 
noise,  and  Yelaina  Grigorovna's  thoughts 
went  back  to  her  life  in  that  house  towards 
which  her  eyes  had  been  vainly  straining. 
How  often  from  her  room  had  she 
watched  these  lights  on  the  river!  And 


10  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

now  she  was  sitting  here  amid  these  very 
lights,  with  a  foolish  longing  for  those 
days  to  be  back  again ;  she  thought  of  her 
father ;  of  her  mother  she  remembered  lit- 
tle save  one  dreadful  memory  of  an  up- 
right coffin-lid  at  the  head  of  an  open  cof- 
fin with  a  still  figure  within,  of  lighted 
tapers,  the  deep-toned  chanting  of  priests 
and  the  awe  of  a  mysterious  procession 
down  the  avenue,  whither  she  knew  not; 
all  a  strange,  cold  terror  to  her  then,  and  a 
faint,  distorted  recollection  to  her  since. 

But  ten  years  of  married  life  shut  off  all 
those  days;  the  contrast  with  her  life  in 
Petersburg  made  those  childish  years  seem 
very  beautiful  and  tender  and,  in  their  dis- 
tance, almost  heartbreaking.  She  was 
never  disappointing  then;  she  was  always 
conscious  of  giving  pleasure  wherever  she 
had  gone ;  and  when  later  she  came  to  en- 
tertain her  father's  guests,  she  had  been 
proud  of  his  pride  in  her.  And  that  fool- 
ish, happy  day  at  the  inspection  of  the 
Military  School,  when  the  Grand  Duke 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  11 

had  said  in  his  speech  that  he  must  con- 
gratulate Colonel  Lityainyeff  on  his  hav- 
ing given  to  Russia  so  gracious  and  beauti- 
ful a  daughter.  Of  course,  it  was  very 
foolish — but  how  proud  her  father  had 
been,  and  on  the  drive  home  how  he  had 
held  and  patted  her  hand. 

The  Astrakhan  boat  began  to  move 
from  the  wharf,  the  boom  of  its  steam- 
horn  echoing  and  re-echoing  over  the 
water,  and  the  lights  from  the  great 
saloons  flashing  along  the  deck  to  where 
she  sat.  Soon  there  remained  only  a  faint 
white  path  on  the  dusky  waters,  pointing 
to  a  vanishing  light.  The  captain  ap- 
proached: "We  shall  be  away  within  an 
hour,"  he  said.  "We  have  done  better 
than  I  expected." 

"I  was  not  at  all  impatient,"  she  an- 
swered him. 

"No?  Well,  we  shall  be  in  the  Kama 
shortly  after  midnight,  I  hope — and  no 
ice,  it  is  reported." 

Then  Liza  brought  a  fur  shooba,  re- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 


marking  that  the  night  was  chilly;  but 
they  had  turned  into  the  Kama  and  were 
beating  up  against  the  swift  current  be- 
fore Yelaina  Grigorovna  went  below. 

The  following  day  they  overtook  a 
steamer  towing  two  heavy  barges,  whose 
decks  were  crowned  with  iron  cages,  within 
which  crowds  of  men  and  women  moved 
restlessly  to  and  fro. 

"Aristantee"  said  the  captain.  "Con- 
victs —  the  first  batch  to  go  this  season. 
Poor  things!" 

An  hour  or  two  later,  while  they  were 
stopped  at  a  wharf,  the  dreadful  proces- 
sion came  up  and  brought  to  alongside. 
The  sides  of  the  cages  were  dense  with 
clinging  hands  and  white  faces!  The 
crowd  of  food  hawkers  on  shore  stood  si- 
lent by  their  wares,  while  one  young 
woman  clambered  over  some  boats  and 
reached  up  a  loaf  of  bread  to  a  hand  out- 
stretched between  the  bars. 

Yelaina  sought  out  the  captain.  "Be 
good  enough  to  take  my  compliments  to 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  13 

the  officer  in  command,"  she  said,  "and  say 
that  I  would  be  glad  of  his  permission  to 
offer  some  little  things — food — to  his  pris- 
oners." The  request  was  readily  granted, 
especially  when  it  was  known  to  be  made 
by  the  wife  of  Paul  Alexandritch  Mardoff . 
Soon  the  contents  of  the  hawkers'  baskets 
were  being  handed  up  the  side,  and  bread 
and  fruit,  bottles  of  milk  and  packets  of 
cigarettes  from  the  ship  were  clutched  by 
struggling  hands,  whose  owners  were  too 
eager  to  devour  and  smoke  to  heed  whence 
the  gifts  came.  Then  the  officer  in  charge 
appeared,  with  clanking  sword  and  full 
uniform,  to  offer  his  thanks.  "I  have  told 
them,  madame,"  he  said,  saluting  and  bow- 
ing, "to  whom  they  are  indebted  for  this 
graciousness."  Then  he  raised  his  hand 
as  a  signal,  and  a  hoarse,  muffled  cheer 
came  from  the  cages.  "And  yet  I,  too, 
am  a  prisoner!"  thought  Yelaina  Grigo- 
rovna,  and  went  below  until  the  barges 
were  left  far  behind. 

It  was  evening  of  the  following  day 


14  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

when  they  reached  Oofa,  where  the  Mar- 
doff  ski  pavoska  1  and  troika  2  were  in  wait- 
ing, with  Anna  Andreaovna,  the  house- 
keeper's daughter,  to  welcome  her.  It 
was  a  wonderful  comfort  to  see  the  shy, 
heartfelt  gladness  on  the  girl's  face,  to 
recognize  the  horses  and  coachman,  and  to 
drive  through  the  cool,  green  country  the 
twenty  versts  to  the  house. 

When  Mardova  was  reached,  however, 
and  Varvara  Stepanovna,  the  house- 
keeper, had  met  her  on  the  steps  and  led 
her  up  to  her  rooms  and  stood  waiting  by 
the  foot  of  the  bed,  Yelaina's  eyes  filled 
with  tears,  and  putting  her  arms  about  the 
old  woman's  neck  she  fell  to  sobbing  on 
her  breast. 

1  Pavoska — a  hooded  traveling  carriage,  generally  with 
poles  in  place  of  springs. 

2  Troika — the  three  horses   by  which  the   carriage  is 
drawn. 


II 

THE  house  at  Mardova  was  some- 
thing of  an  architectural  grief — an 
immense,  white-washed  stone  oblong,  with 
two  long  lines  of  windows,  all  of  uniform 
pattern,  save  six,  of  later  construction,  in 
the  upper  row  opening  upon  the  iron  bal- 
cony, which  made  a  green  line  on  the  white 
of  the  facade.  Immediately  below  the 
balcony  was  the  main  entrance,  a  plain 
arch  through  the  wall,  the  door  sunk  deep 
in  the  masonry,  and  a  flight  of  steps  lead- 
ing to  the  garden.  The  discomfort  of  the 
house,  however,  lay  only  in  its  outer  ap- 
pearance. Within  were  airy  corridors, 
broad,  shallow  staircases  and  spacious, 
deep-windowed  rooms,  possessing  the  rare 
merit  of  always  having  the  opposite 
temperature  to  that  of  the  season.  It 
stood  on  rising  ground  backed  by  a  strip  of 

15 


16  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

forest,  looking  down  over  miles  of  stretch- 
ing steppe-land  dotted  here  and  there  with 
lakelets — spots  of  silver  in  the  springtime, 
almost  invisible  later  on  when  summer  hid 
them  in  deep  grass.  Over  these  in  the  sea- 
son strings  of  wildfowl  flighted  against 
the  evening  sky,  and  the  hum  of  insects 
went  on  day  and  night  unheeding  of  the 
soft,  far-away  sunsets.  Different  sunsets 
from  those  of  winter,  when  the  fierce  red 
overhead  made  the  snow  an  expanse  of  bil- 
lowy purple;  when  the  stars  came  near, 
and  the  moon,  in  the  intense  cold,  often 
shone  out  from  a  cross  of  silver. 

In  a  hollow  to  the  right  lay  the  village, 
a  long  street  of  gray,  wooden  huts,  well 
hidden,  save  for  one  or  two  of  its  roofs, 
from  the  master's  house.  To  the  left  and 
behind  the  neck  of  forest  was  the  hilly 
ground,  where  the  old  workings  were;  be- 
yond this  again  stretched  forest  and  field 
to  the  horizon,  wrhere  the  boundary  lay. 
Not  an  acre  of  land  had  been  either  sold  or 
mortgaged — a  rare  thing  for  a  Russian  es- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  17 

tate — during  the  present  Monsieur  Mar- 
doff's  time.  He  did  not  cherish  any  senti- 
mental feelings  in  the  matter — the  land 
was  simply  inseparable  from  his  house  and 
dignity;  and,  though  he  rarely  visited  it, 
he  managed  it  on  the  model  plan  of  mak- 
ing the  intendant's  wage  dependent  on  the 
yearly  stream  of  roubles  coming  to  Peters- 
burg. So  while  lean  years  were  not  good 
for  Paul  Alexandritch,  they  were  very 
much  worse  for  Andrea  Andreaitch,  the 
intendant,  and  again  very  considerably 
worse  indeed  for  the  peasant. 

But  the  system,  as  a  means  of  maintain- 
ing and  steadying  the  revenue,  worked 
well  for  Paul  Alexandritch,  who  was  a 
gentleman  with  correct  ambitions.  He 
had  been  twice  abroad  on  important  diplo- 
matic missions,  and  his  name  was  now 
easily  among  the  select  in  Petersburg. 
When  he  married  Colonel  Lityainyeff's 
daughter,  the  daughter  of  a  simple  gover- 
nor of  a  Military  School,  he  was  quite 
aware  that  he  could  have  bought  in  a 


18  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

dearer  and  higher  market;  but  his  need 
had  been  for  a  beautiful  head  of  his  house, 
an  attractive  hostess  for  his  guests.  And 
his  vanity  was  soothed  as  he  heard  his 
wife's  grace  and  beauty  spoken  of  on  all 
sides,  and  his  choice  had  received  Imperial 
commendation. 

For  awhile  Yelaina  had  found  the  life 
wonderfully  pleasant,  with  its  brilliancy 
and  distinction  and  the  sense  of  being 
liked  and  admired.  But  when,  during  the 
second  year,  tales  of  famine  began  to  be 
told,  she  grew  restless  and  wished  to  leave 
the  wealth  of  Petersburg  and  be  among 
the  peasants  at  Mardova.  Paul  Alexan- 
dritch  became  impatient,  and  assured  her 
that  she  could  do  nothing  beyond  what  was 
already  being  done ;  moreover,  he  was  go- 
ing abroad  on  another  mission.  So  Ye- 
laina went  to  Mardova  alone.  She  found 
her  husband's  words  were  true — she  could 
do  little.  There  was  much  to  do,  but  she 
found  herself  helpless  to  do  it;  and  her 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  19 

eyes  were  opened.     It  was  this  summer 
that  she  met  the  Countess  Valletski. 

There  must  be  many  English  people 
who  knew  St.  Petersburg  in  the  early 
'eighties  who  remember  the  Countess  Val- 
letski; fewer,  perhaps,  who  knew  her  writ- 
ings, fewer  still  who  know  her  history. 
They  will  remember  her  as  a  somewhat 
feeble  old  lady  with  white  hair,  remark- 
able brown  eyes,  soft  and  slow  of  speech, 
in  whose  salle  they  were  sure  of  meeting 
other  English  people.  They  would  hear 
of  her  as  having  a  history;  they  would  be 
quite  unlikely,  however,  to  be  told  of  a 
September  day  in  Kieve  more  than  fifty 
years  ago,  when  her  husband  was  taken 
from  her,  of  her  years  of  pleading  only  to 
be  told  whether  he  was  living  or  dead,  of 
the  unvarying  answer  that  she  might  "con- 
sider herself  a  widow,"  and  of  her  coming 
at  last  to  welcome  each  sign  of  age  as  has- 
tening that  end  through  which  alone  she 
could  hope  to  meet  her  husband. 


20  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Yelaina  Grigorovna  had  met  her  at  her 
father's  house,  and  later  the  Countess 
spent  a  couple  of  months  with  her  at  Mar- 
dova.  When,  however,  Paul  Alexan- 
dritch  returned  in  the  autumn,  he  heard  of 
the  friendship  with  high  displeasure,  and 
requested  his  wife  to  discontinue  it,  for 
the  Countess  was  known  to  be  in  ill-favor 
with  the  Government,  if  she  was  not,  in- 
deed, a  suspect.  Yelaina  refused;  Col- 
onel Lityainyeff  was  called  from  Kazan, 
and  affairs  were  smoothed  over  by  her  con- 
senting to  see  the  Countess  no  more,  pro- 
vided they  were  allowed  to  correspond. 
A  couple  of  years  of  frigid  peace  followed, 
during  the  second  of  which  Yelaina  was 
called  to  Kazan  to  bid  a  last  good-by  to  her 
father — to  lay  her  wet  cheek  upon  the 
rugged,  dead  hand  and  pray  in  her  lone- 
liness :  "Take  me  too — let  me  come  also." 

The  blow  passed;  outwardly,  things 
went  well,  and  Paul  Alexandritch's  name 
came  to  be  among  the  powerful  ones  of 
Petersburg.  Then  one  stern  day  he  re- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  21 

turned  home  with  pale,  strained  face  and 
went  straight  to  his  wife's  apartments. 
The  Countess  Valletski  was  dead:  the 
police  had  gone  through  her  papers  and 
Yelaina's  letters  were  found.  They  had 
seemed  innocent  enough  in  the  writing; 
doubtless  their  color  was  heightened  by 
the  company  of  others  of  a  different  type ; 
but  Monsieur  Mardoff  was  ordered  to  see 
that  his  wife  kept  strictly  to  her  apart- 
ments. Yelaina,  for  awhile,  was  over- 
come with  nervous  terror;  but  when,  two 
mornings  later,  Paul  Alexandritch  told 
her  that  she  was  ordered  to  go  down  to 
Mardova  and  hold  herself  detained  there, 
and  that  he  supposed  when  he  returned  in 
the  evening  she  would  be  gone,  she  could 
reply  almost  cheerfully,  "Yes,  when  you 
return  in  the  evening  I  shall  be  gone." 
For  it  had  already  been  arranged  that  she 
should  spend  the  summer  at  Mardova,  as 
Paul  Alexandritch  would  be  busy  in 
Petersburg  with  the  work  of  a  new  depart- 
ment; so,  struggling  against  the  suffocat- 


22  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

ing  sense  of  semi-imprisonment  by  telling 
herself  that  she  was,  after  all,  only  carry- 
ing out  her  pre-arranged  plans,  she  left 
Petersburg. 


Ill 

IT  has  been  said  that  the  old  workings 
lay  beyond  the  strip  of  forest  behind 
the  house  at  Mardova.  Close  to  them, 
and  in  a  semi-circular  clearing  of  the  for- 
est, was  the  house  set  apart  for  the  ex- 
perts ;  and  here  on  a  morning  in  June  came 
Jonathan  Forty,  driving  the  twenty  versts 
from  the  boat-landing  before  the  dew  was 
off  the  grass.  As  his  dusty  platyorika 
jolted  down  the  road  past  the  old  work- 
ings, which  his  keen  eye  at  once  detected,  a 
peasant,  working  there,  directed  him  to  the 
little  house  in  the  clearing.  After  some 
knocking  and  strolling  up  and  down  the 
wooden  verandah,  a  sleepy  Tartar  boy  ap- 
peared and  ushered  him  into  a  kind  of  din- 
ing-room, whose  white-washed  walls,  yel- 
low-painted floor  and  open  windows  under 
the  shade  of  the  verandah  gave  a  sense  of 

23 


24  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

pleasant  coolness  after  the  blinding  road, 
which  a  couple  of  empty  red-wine  bottles, 
a  streaky  tumbler  and  an  ash-tray  full  to 
overflowing  of  cigarette-ends  could  not 
quite  destroy.  At  one  end  of  the  room  an 
old  table-piano  stood  open;  behind  the 
table  was  a  heavy-looking  divan,  above 
which  hung  a  rough  bookshelf  filled  with 
books. 

Jonathan  had  thrown  off  his  dust-cloak 
and  returned  again  to  the  room,  when  a 
stout  old  peasant  woman  appeared,  trem- 
bling with  half-awake  excitement. 

"Don't  distress  yourself — it  is  I  who  am 
so  early,"  said  he,  in  reply  to  her  apologies 
for  having  slept  so  late. 

"But  the  samovar  shall  be  here  on  the 
instant,  baring 1 

"All  right,  I  am  in  no  hurry.  I  sup- 
pose Herr  Kamff  is  asleep  yet?" 

"He  still  sleeps,  barin — but  he  said  he 
must  be  called  whenever  you  arrived— he 
will  be  here  on  the  instant." 

i  Lord,  master. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  25 

The  old  woman  hurried  away,  and  there 
followed  some  stealthy  knocking  at  a  door, 
and  very  shortly  Herr  Kamff  appeared, 
hooking  his  gold  spectacles  behind  his  ears 
and  smoothing  his  bushy  black  hair  and 
grizzled  beard  as  he  came,  for  very  few 
toilet  moments  sufficed  for  Herr  Julius. 

Seraphima  kept  her  word;  following 
Herr  Julius  came  the  Tartar  boy  bearing 
the  samovar,  and  behind  him  Seraphima, 
with  a  dish  of  freshly-baked  buns.  Sera- 
phima was  an  excellent  cook;  she  was 
ready  to  prepare  a  meal  at  any  time  of  the 
day  or  night;  she  always  retired  to  rest 
without  disrobing,  and  always  kept  her 
stove  going. 

For  awhile  Herr  Julius  was  politely  re- 
served, and  spoke  only  in  generalities ;  but 
Jonathan's  easy  openness  of  manner  soon 
reassured  him,  and  by  the  end  of  the  meal 
he  had  grown  enthusiastic  over  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  copper  mine.  He  began  to 
speak  in  English,  for  Herr  Julius  was  a 
little  vain  of  his  knowledge  of  languages ; 


26  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

besides,  after  a  late  night  over  the  red 
wine,  to  show  it  served  as  an  assurance  that 
he  was  quite  clear  and  collected  in  spite  of 
the  few  white  streaks  about  his  face  and 
the  telltale  shine  of  the  eyes. 

"I  haf  my  laboratory  here,"  said  he, 
pointing  along  a  passage  that  led  from  the 
far  end  of  the  room.  "If  you  will,  I  can 
at  once  show  you  my  results." 

So  they  went  to  the  laboratory,  where 
liquids  of  every  shade  of  blue  stood  in  deli- 
cate glass  beakers,  and  apparatus  of  every 
twist  and  convolution  known  to  science  lay 
about  on  shelves  and  bench  and  glistened 
in  the  sunlight,  while  the  whole  room  had  a 
curious  chemical  smell  that  was  not  un- 
pleasant. 

"I  haf  found,"  said  Herr  Julius,  han- 
dling one  of  the  beakers  of  blue  liquid, 
"what  I  think  is  der  main  lode — or,  you 
would  say,  seam  of  der  mine — you  will  say 
if  I  am  right.  But  he  is  very  hard — he 
took  me  der  whole  week  to  sample  him." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  27 

"Perhaps  you  had  not  a  drill,"  sug- 
gested Jonathan. 

"Yes,  I  haf  a  drill — but  der  rock  he 
broke  him ;  so  I  take  a  liddle  hammer,  und 
he  broke  him  too.  But,"  continued  Herr 
Julius,  tapping  the  beaker,  "he  is  here  now 
dissolved  up  in  dis  liddle  pottle,  and  pres- 
ently he  shall  tell  us  how  much  copper  he 
haf." 

Herr  Julius  took  from  a  drawer  a  small 
cylinder  of  platinum  foil,  slipped  it  over  a 
spiral  of  the  same  metal,  carefully  lowered 
the  whole  into  the  liquid  in  the  beaker,  and 
then  attached  to  cylinder  and  spiral  the 
wires  from  a  couple  of  galvanic  cells  which 
stood  on  a  shelf  above.  Whereupon  the 
surface  of  the  platinum  cylinder  began  to 
be  dulled  with  a  salmon-colored  coating  of 
copper,  and  the  blue  of  the  solution  began 
slowly  to  fade. 

"He  works  good,"  said  Herr  Julius. 
"Now,  when  we  return  he  will  be  ready." 

"There  is  the  fact;  tell  me  the  reason!" 


28  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

said  Jonathan,  by  way  of  showing  interest 
in  the  operation,  for  though  the  process 
of  analysis  was  familiar  to  him,  he  had 
been  really  interested  in  watching  the  Ger- 
man's deft  manipulation. 

Herr  Julius  took  out  his  cigarette  case 
as  Jonathan  lighted  a  cigar,  and  after  a 
few  puffs  replied — 

"Der  are  many  facts  which  at  present 
haf  no  reason  for  us.  If  a  child  try  to 
learn  der  calculus,  it  will  hurt  him — as 
children  hurt  demselves  mit  pocket-knives ! 
We  must  grow.  In  der  meantime  we  are 
protected  from  too  much  knowledge  all  at 
once." 

"So  that  all  our  knowledge  of  to-day 
would  not  have  been  good  for  the  old  al- 
chemists?" 

"I  am  of  opinion,"  replied  Herr  Julius, 
"dot  der  alchemist  had  in  many  ways  more 
wisdom  than  der  scientist  of  to-day, 
though  he  had  less  knowledge.  If  a  horse 
eat  too  many  beans  it  is  bad  for  him. 
Our  scientist  can  easily  eat  too  many 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  29 

beans ;  perhaps  dot  is  why  he  laugh  at  der 
alchemist." 

"Not  laugh;  only  sorry  to  think  of  lives 
having  been  wasted  over  a  chimera." 

"A  chimera — der  conversion  of  metals! 
Dot  is  where  you  are  wrong.  I  laugh 
once — not  now.  See,  if  I  wish  to  know  if 
der  is  any  iron  is  dis  piece  of  rock,  I  dissolv 
him  up  and  heat  him  before  I  apply  my 
tests,  because  I  know  dot  when  he  is  hot 
he  will  answer  my  tests  better ;  his  charac- 
ter— his — his  idiosyncrasies  become  more 
bronounced — his  molecules  move  quicker 
— he  is  more  alive — der  hotter  your  tea  der 
better  he  dissolve  your  sugar.  But  look 
now,  if  I  cool  him  he  becomes  quieter ;  if  I 
go  on  cooling  him  he  becomes  quieter  still 
— his  molecules  go  slow;  if  I  cool  him  to 
the  greatest  cold  we  can  broduce,  he  is  al- 
most dead,  his  individuality,  his  idiosyn- 
crasies, are  gone ;  he  will  not  answer  to  my 
tests,  so  dot  I  do  not  know  if  he  is  iron. 
In  a  greater  cold — in  der  perfect  cold  of 
space  from  where  all  dese  things  come — 


30  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

his  molecules,  perhaps,  are  quite  still — his 
characters  gone — no  more  iron,  no  more 
gold,  shust  one  uniform,  elemental  mat- 
ter." 

"Still,  that  is  only  half-way  in  your  de- 
fense of  the  alchemists.  Having  got 
everything  into  one  uniform,  elemental 
matter,  as  you  say,  by  what  laws  are  you 
to  bring  it  back  again,  so  much  as  iron,  so 
much  as  gold,  and  so  on?" 

"Dot,"  said  Herr  Julius,  "is  der  child 
mit  his  calculus — we  must  grow." 

"Only  in  this  case,"  replied  Jonathan, 
"we  may  hope  the  child  will  not  come  to 
learn  his  calculus.  Well,  if  you  are  ready, 
we  will  go  to  the  mine." 

The  face,  or  faces  of  the  workings,  for 
there  had  been  attempts  to  work  at  three 
different  points,  looked  from  a  distance 
fairly  promising,  for  from  out  its  fringe 
of  tangled  briar  and  bracken  the  rock 
gleamed  an  intense  blue;  but  on  a  nearer 
approach  the  deception  was  at  once  appar- 
ent. A  seam  of  ore  only  an  inch  or  two 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  31 

in  thickness  about  half-way  up  had,  by  the 
constant  trickle  of  moisture,  colored  the 
whole  surface  of  the  rock  beneath  as  blue 
as  itself.  Above  this  lay  some  eight  or 
nine  feet  of  dense  gray  rock. 

"If  only  the  seam  had  been  nearer  the 
surface  it  might  have  been  worked;  there 
is  little  hope  of  doing  anything  as  it  is,  I 
fear,"  said  Jonathan.  "But  let  us  see  the 
seam  you  speak  of." 

They  climbed  to  the  top  and  plunged 
waist-high  through  the  briar  and  bracken. 

"Take  care,"  said  Herr  Julius,  "der  is  a 
hole — ah,  der  is  Peotra — he  help  me  to  dig 
him  out." 

The  peasant  was  awaiting  by  a  deep 
hole,  on  either  side  of  which  a  sinuous, 
ditch-like  indentation  of  the  ground 
stretched  away  beneath  the  tangle,  evi- 
dently following  a  line  of  fault  in  the  rock 
below.  The  hole  had  been  dug  between 
the  two  faces  of  the  fault,  exposing  nine 
feet  of  sheer  ore  covered  by  only  a  foot  of 
earth,  while  here  and  there  were  smaller 


32  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

holes,  for  the  sampling  which  had  proved 
so  fatal  to  Herr  Julius'  drill  and  hammer. 
Jonathan  silently  examined  the  place,  a 
vertical  line  between  his  eyebrows  show- 
ing his  interest. 

"I  came  to  look  for  liddle  snakes,"  said 
Herr  Julius,  "und  one  he  run  into  a  hole, 
so  I  dig  him  out  and  came  on  der  rock." 

Jonathan  nodded,  and  on  his  hands  and 
knees  began  to  follow  the  line  of  fault  be- 
neath the  brushwood.  He  returned  in 
about  half-an-hour  well  satisfied  with  his 
inspection. 

"It  seems  capital,"  he  said.  "Where  is 
the  drill — can  it  not  be  repaired?" 

Peotra  produced  it  from  beneath  a  bush, 
where  it  had  been  cast  in  despair;  and 
though  it  proved  too  feeble  an  instrument 
for  the  work  that  was  wanted,  it  was  not 
beyond  repair,  so  Peotra  was  dispatched 
with  it  to  the  smith's. 

"I  will  wire  to  Moscow  for  a  couple  of 
drills  and  one  or  two  other  things  to  be 
sent  without  delay,"  said  Jonathan. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  33 

"Koolic" — Koolic  was  the  Tartar  boy 
— "Koolic  will  take  it  to  Oofa  at  once," 
said  Herr  Julius.  So  they  went  down  to 
the  house  to  write  the  telegram,  and  Herr 
Julius  to  finish  his  analysis. 

During  the  completion  of  the  latter, 
Jonathan  heard  from  Herr  Julius  how  he 
had  once  been  in  London,  and  how,  before 
he  had  been  there  a  few  hours,  he  had  been 
robbed  of  all  his  money — about  thirty 
pounds — by  means  of  what  Jonathan 
recognized  as  the  old  Confidence  Trick. 
Then  of  how  he  had  slept  for  some  nights 
in  the  "Square  of  Trafalgar,"  until  he 
found  employment  in  a  sugar  works;  but 
not  liking  the  place,  he  had  left  and  gone 
to  America,  and  finally  had  returned  to 
Riga — his  native  place — and  Petersburg. 

"And  how  was  it  you  came  here?"  asked 
Jonathan. 

"Paul  Alexandritch  he  came  to  me  one 
day  in  der  laboratory  where  I  was — dot 
controlled  der  manufacture  of  paper  for 
der  currency — and  say  his  wife  need  a 


34  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

chemist  to  analyze  some  ores  on  his  estate, 
and  would  I  go  ? — he  say  some  oder  things 
too,  for  Paul  Alexandritch  is  a  very  polite 
gentleman,  but  he  wish  me  to  go.  I  had 
been  four  years  where  I  was,  which  was 
a  long  time,  so  I  came.  Haf  you  met 
Paul  Alexandritch?" 

"No,  I  have  only  met  his  wife.  But 
that  reminds  me  that  I  have  not  reported 
myself,  and  it  is  eleven  o'clock.  Will  you 
take  me?" 

"In  two  moments  I  shall  be  finished, 
and  den  we  shall  go,"  he  replied,  adding  in 
a  lower  tone  to  himself  as  he  closed  his  bal- 
ance: "Yes,  Paul  Alexandritch  is  a 
diplomat — dot  is  Paul  Alexandritch." 

After  some  rapid  calculations  in  a  little 
notebook,  he  looked  up  with  triumph  on 
his  face. 

"Dot  ore  has  fifty-four  and  dree-quar- 
ters  pro  cents!"  he  said. 

Jonathan  had  expected  a  figure  some- 
where near  that,  and  he  joined  Herr 
Julius  in  congratulations  on  the  result. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  35 

Then,  after  some  change  in  their  attire, 
they  went  to  call  upon  Yelaina  Grigo- 
rovna. 


IV 

FIVE  minutes'  walk  along  a 
shady,  resinous-smelling  cart-track 
through  the  forest  brought  them  to  the 
house.  Yelaina  came  to  them  at  once,  en- 
tering from  behind  a  wall  of  palms  and 
ferns  that  screened  the  far  end  of  the 
great  salle  up  to  which  they  were  shown. 
She  had  heard  of  Jonathan's  arrival,  she 
said,  and  feared  he  must  have  had  a  tedi- 
ous journey.  On  the  contrary,  he  assured 
her,  the  journey  had  been  a  very  comfort- 
able one;  they  had,  however,  to  unship 
some  cargo  at  one  place  before  they  could 
pass.  Then  the  mine  was  mentioned,  and 
Jonathan  found  himself  becoming  almost 
enthusiastic  about  its  possibilities.  He 
suggested  that  they  begin  to  clear  the 
ground  at  once,  men  might  be  put  on  to- 
morrow. Yelaina  was  delighted,  the  in- 

36 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  37 

tendant,  she  said,  would  give  him  what 
men  he  required — Herr  Kamff  would, 
perhaps,  show  him  the  way  to  his  office? 
— it  was  the  first  house  in  the  village; 
adding — 

"You  will  not  find  our  peasants  very 
energetic,  I  fear;  but  really  there  is  so  lit- 
tle for  them  to  do  during  a  great  part  of 
the  year — and  they  look  upon  poverty  as 
part  of  their  life;  they  are  very  gentle, 
though,  and  teachable." 

Then  the  folding-doors  at  one  end  of 
the  room  were  pushed  back,  and  a  servant 
announced  luncheon. 

It  was  served  in  a  small  ante-room 
which,  as  only  part  of  the  house  was 
opened,  Yelaina  used  as  a  dining-room. 
At  her  left  sat  a  thin,  gray-haired,  sad- 
looking  woman,  who  was  introduced  as 
Varvara  Stepanovna,  the  housekeeper;  by 
the  latter  sat  her  daughter,  Anna  An- 
dreaovna,  the  fair,  rosy-cheeked  girl  who 
had  met  Yelaina  at  Oof  a.  And  Jonathan 
noticed  that  Yelaina  always  included  them 


38  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

in  the  conversation,  and  addressed  them 
rather  as  friends  than  dependents,  often 
deferring  to  Varvara  Stepanovna,  and 
discussing  little  points  with  Anna  An- 
dreaovna,  who  seemed  to  be  a  timid,  shy 
girl.  The  conversation  fell  upon  Russian 
wines,  of  which  some  bottles  stood  clus- 
tered in  the  center  of  the  table.  Herr 
Julius  had  been  praising  the  Bessarabian 
wines. 

"Yes!"  said  Yelaina.  "I  rarely  take 
wine,  so  I  am  no  judge,  but  every  one  says 
that  it  is  good.  Though  in  Petersburg, 
where  they  are  never  tired  of  praising  it, 
they  put  French  wines  before  their  guests. 
It  seems  a  little  inconsistent,  does  it  not?" 

"Then  der  Crimean  cognac  der  is  no 
finer  in  der  world!"  said  Herr  Julius, 
looking  up  from  his  plate. 

"An  inconsistency  not  alone  confined  to 
Russia,"  said  Jonathan. 

"But  when  there  are  so  many  beautiful 
things  in  Russia,  why  should  we  be 
ashamed  of  them?"  she  asked.  "No — not 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  39 

ashamed — for  I  know  we  love  them;  per- 
haps we  are  a  little  too  sensitive  to  the 
opinion  of  others." 

"Dot  beautiful  gown  you  are  wearing  is 
of  Russian  lace,  I  think,  Yelaina  Grigo- 
rovna,"  said  Herr  Julius,  who  did  not  lack 
directness  of  speech. 

"Yes,"  she  answered,  raising  her  arm  to 
show  the  lace,  through  which  the  beautiful 
lines  of  the  limb  were  seen.  "It  was  made 
by  our  own  people  here,"  adding,  with  a 
smile:  "But,  you  see,  we  are  even  speak- 
ing of  these  things  in  English  and 
French." 

So  the  conversation  was  continued  in 
Russian,  and  Anna  Andreaovna  asking 
one  or  two  timid  questions  about  the  new 
seam,  Yelaina  said:  "If  you  would  like 
to  see  it,  Anuta,  we  could  go  there  after 
luncheon;  I  have  not  seen  it  yet."  So 
horses  were  ordered,  and  while  they  were 
being  put  in,  the  samovar  was  brought  and 
Varvara  Stepanovna  made  coffee  at  a  lit- 
tle side-table,  Herr  Julius  smoking  his 


40  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

cigarette  beside  her,  while  Yelaina  and 
Anna  Andreaovna  settled  by  one  of  the 
open  windows  beside  a  pile  of  yellow-old 
music,  which  they  were  repairing.  And 
Jonathan's  gaze  was  divided  between  the 
wonderful  panorama  of  sunlit  waving 
grass  starred  with  spots  of  silver,  and  the 
pretty  curve  of  Yelaina's  shoulders  and 
the  billowy  abundance  of  her  hair  as  she 
bent  over  her  work. 

Herr  Julius  said  that  he  had  work  to  do 
in  the  laboratory,  so  Jonathan  was  left  to 
pioneer  the  ladies  alone.  Arrived  at  the 
mine — he  and  Peotra  beating  down  a 
track  through  the  brushwood — he  ex- 
plained how,  perhaps,  the  best  way  to 
work  the  place  would  be  to  widen  the  rift 
of  the  fault  and  lay  a  tramway  along  it,  by 
means  of  which  the  ore  could  be  run  down 
to  the  lower  ground  and  stored  ready  for 
carting  to  the  barges,  adding:  "We  shall 
make  a  beginning  to-morrow,  I  hope,  if  I 
can  get  the  men."  To  which  Yelaina  re- 
plied that  they  might  drive  round  now  by 

t 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  41 

the  office  and  drop  him  at  Andreaitch's 
door.  So  they  returned  to  the  linaka1 
and  went  back  through  the  forest  road, 
past  the  house  and  down  a  crumbling,  sun- 
baked road,  into  the  ravine,  where  they 
stopped  before  a  painted  and  trimly-kept 
low,  square  house,  having  almost  a  pala- 
tial appearance  beside  the  miserable-look- 
ing huts  of  the  rest  of  the  street. 

Andrea  Andreaitch,  the  intendant,  was 
a  little  squat  man  with  a  pock-marked 
face,  a  bridgeless  nose  and — a  fact  which 
had  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  him — 
honest-looking  eyes.  He  was  dressed  in 
black  cloth,  and  though  he  still  retained 
the  crinkly  high  boots  of  the  peasant,  wore 
them  beneath  immensely  wide  trousers 
turned  up  at  the  bottom  and  showing  a 
band  of  coarse,  gray  lining.  He  rose 
from  his  office  chair  and  greeted  Jonathan 
with  surprise,  though  he  had  heard  of  the 
afternoon  visit  to  the  mine,  and  had 

i  A  carriage  similar  to  an  Irish  jaunting  car,  but  hung 
low  on  four  wheels. 


42  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

watched  the  linaka  come  down  the  road 
and  stop  at  the  door.  He  was  delighted 
to  hear  such  a  good  report  of  the  mine,  he 
said  effusively;  whatever  men  were  re- 
quired should  be  sent  whenever  they  were 
wanted — to-morrow?  yes,  certainly,  to- 
morrow morning. 

"And  one  of  my  clerks  will  look  after 
them,"  he  said ;  "we  can  pass  them  through 
the  books  along  with  the  other  men." 

"Thanks,  but  I  believe  it  is  Yelaina 
Grigorovna's  wish  that  this  work  should 
be  kept  apart  from  the  estate  accounts ;  so 
that  we  had  better  transfer,  if  you  please," 
said  Jonathan. 

"Certainly,  certainly,  whichever  way 
you  please — I  was  only  wishful  to  avoid 
the  trouble  of  two  sets  of  books." 

And  Andreaitch  became  yet  more  nerv- 
ously polite  and  effusive. 

"We  shall  not  be  troubled  with  a  great 
amount  of  book-keeping  at  first,"  said 
Jonathan.  "Then  as  to  tools — barrows, 
spades,  etc.,  I  am  afraid  I  shall  have  to 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  43 

draw  upon  you  for  them  until  we  can  get 
our  own." 

"Whatever  you  wish — I  shall  he  de- 
lighted !  But  let  us  discuss  it  over  a  glass 
of  tea.  Please  honor  me!" 

And  Andreaitch  led  the  way  into  the 
next  room,  where  his  wife,  Marya  Ivan- 
ovna,  was  seated  before  the  usual  brass 
samovar.  Marya  Ivanovna  was  never 
long  apart  from  her  samovar,  and  was  at 
her  best  when  beside  it.  She  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly stout  woman,  almost  unwieldy, 
whose  beady  eyes,  flat  face  and  dusky  skin 
hinted  at  not  very  distant  Tartar  blood. 
She  had,  in  fact,  been  one  of  the  Mardova 
serfs,  but  was  now  a  power  in  the  land, 
and  to  fall  under  the  ban  of  her  displeas- 
ure was  a  misfortune  not  to  be  lightly  in- 
curred by  her  inferiors  on  the  estate,  or  in- 
deed in  any  of  the  surrounding  villages. 
Both  she  and  her  husband  expressed  great 
concern  that  all  the  arrangements  at  the 
house  in  the  clearing  should  be  to  Jona- 
than's liking;  Yelaina  Grigorovna  had 


44  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

given  instructions  that  everything  should 
be  done  for  his  comfort.  If  anything  had 
been  missed,  or  whatever  he  required,  if  he 
would  only  be  so  good  as  to  mention  it,  it 
should  be  got  at  once — a  messenger  could 
be  sent  to  Oof  a  at  any  time — night  or  day. 

"And  how  did  you  leave  Paul  Alexan- 
dritch  ?"  asked  Andreaitch,  pouring  his  tea 
into  his  saucer  and  stirring  a  spoonful  of 
jam  into  it.  "Did  he  send  any  message?" 

"I  came  direct  from  London  and  did 
not  pass  through  Petersburg,"  replied 
Jonathan. 

"Ah,  of  course,  you  had  made  all  ar- 
rangements with  him  beforehand,"  said 
Andreaitch. 

"The  arrangements  were  made  in  Mos- 
cow." 

"So?  I  had  not  heard  of  Paul  Alexan- 
dritch  having  been  in  Moscow  recently. 
But  he  is  a  very  busy  man." 

"I  believe  he  is,"  answered  Jonathan 
shortly,  feeling  sure  that  Andreaitch  knew 
all  the  details  of  his  coming. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  45 

Marya  Ivanovna  pressed  him  to  take 
some  wild  honey,  a  big  dish  of  which  stood 
on  the  table,  but  as  she  and  her  husband 
had  been  liberally  helping  themselves  to  it 
during  the  meal  by  transferring  it  with 
their  teaspoons  directly  from  the  dish  to 
their  mouth,  he  refrained. 

"We  are  very  grateful  that  we  are  to 
have  Yelaina  Grigorovna  with  us  this 
summer,"  said  Marya  Ivanovna.  "Have 
you  seen  her  yet?" 

"Yelaina  Grigorovna  drove  me  here  in 
her  linaka  just  now,"  Jonathan  replied. 

Marya  Ivanovna  was  quite  unabashed, 
however. 

"Did  she?"  she  said.  "Ah,  Yelaina 
Grigorovna  has  a  warm  heart  for  the  peas- 
ants, and  for  every  one  around  her.  We 
all  love  Yelaina  Grigorovna!" 

But  Jonathan,  having  finished  his  glass 
of  tea,  rose  to  go. 

"Andrushka,"  said  Marya  Ivanovna, 
after  he  was  gone,  "he  is  one  of  the  clever 
sort!" 


46  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Not  too  clever  for  me,"  replied  her 
husband,  preparing  to  go  out  on  his 
rounds.  "Perhaps  the  fool  thinks  I  don't 
know!" 

"I  am  not  greatly  prepossessed  with 
your  steward  here,"  said  Jonathan  to 
Herr  Julius  that  night.  "Does  he  trouble 
you  much?" 

"He  came  once,"  replied  Herr  Julius, 
"and  get  me  to  play  Russian  songs  while 
he  sing  dem ;  but,  ach !  his  dam  voice  make 
me  sick,  so  I  pretend  to  go  asleep,  den  he 
spit  on  der  floor  und  go  on  his  tiptoe  from 
der  house.  No,  he  has  not  troubled  me 
much.  He  is  a  defer  man,  mind  you,  is 
Andreaitch." 


HERR  JULIUS'  three  months  at 
Mardova  had  brought  him  among 
other  things  an  excessive  growth  of  hair; 
so — one  day  about  a  fortnight  after  Jona- 
than's arrival — he  gave  himself  into  the 
hands  of  Koolic,  who  said  he  had  often  cut 
hair.  To  sit  wrapped  around,  all  save 
one's  head,  with  a  bath-sheet,  on  a  hot 
verandah  where  all  kinds  of  buzzing  things 
are,  is  not  pleasant ;  but  Herr  Julius  bore 
it  with  unwinking  patience  while  Koolic 
labored  with  his  scissors — brought  from 
the  kitchen  where  they  were  used  for  lamp- 
trimming — while  Jonathan,  from  a  shady 
corner,  watched  the  process  before  decid- 
ing about  submitting  to  it  himself. 

"One  learns  to  appreciate  many  things 
in  the  country,"  said  he.  "In  town  the 
full  sense  of  rectitude  which  comes  from 
having  one's  beard  trimmed  is  lost  by  there 

47 


48  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

always  being  a  barber  in  the  next  street." 

"Der  pleasures  of  civilization!"  said 
Herr  Julius,  with  his  chin  on  his  chest. 

"Yes,  only  we  miss  half  of  them  by  their 
being  so  monotonously  a  matter  of 
course." 

"Not  der  fault  of  civilization!"  muttered 
Herr  Julius. 

"I  suppose  not.  But  one  is  apt  to  for- 
get what  a  deal  a  clean  collar  does  for  one's 
morality — one  can  almost  forgive  those 
peasants  in  their  sweat  and  dirt  and  evil 
clothes  their  unbounded  capacity  for  un- 
truth," replied  Jonathan  lazily.  It  was 
one  of  those  hot  days  compelling  to  idle- 
ness, making  it  pleasant  to  drift  down  all 
manner  of  little  lanes  of  unprofitable  spec- 
ulation. 

"Der  Russian  peasant,"  said  Herr 
Julius,  "thinks  much  of  his  pelly — und  he 
is  dirty,  und,  as  you  say,  a  liar,  but  I  am 
fond  of  der  peasant — he  is  always  goot  to 
der  animals.  He  is  a  goot  fellow." 

"So   good   a   fellow,"   said   Jonathan, 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  49 

jerking  his  chair  further  into  the  shade, 
"that  one  would  be  almost  sorry  to  see  him 
educated!  He  would  be  none  the  worse, 
though,  for  being  a  little  crueler  to  a  cer- 
tain class  of  animals." 

"Der  liddle  things?"  replied  Herr 
Julius.  "He  say  Got  made  him  as  well  as 
himself,  why  should  he  kill  it  ?  Dat  is  why 
when  he  find  one  he  shust  throw  him  on  der 
floor." 

"I  once  mentioned  that  fact  to  some  of 
my  countrymen,  and  they  said,  'How 
shocking!' ' 

"One  time,"  said  Herr  Julius,  "I  was  in 
Naples,  und  there  was  a  man  mit  a  horse 
which  was  very  weak — Koolic,  dose  scis- 
sors is  surprisingly  loose ! — und  a  big  sore 
on  his  back.  Der  man  he  kept  beating 
him  on  der  sore  to  make  him  go  quick,  so  I 
ask  what  for  he  beat  him  on  der  sore — den 
he  laugh  und  beat  him  again,  so  I  take  der 
stick  und  break  him,  und  a  lot  of  people 
came  round — und  I  was  put  in  prison  for 
der  night !" 


50  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Why  even  in  England,"  said  Jona- 
than, after  sympathizing  with  Herr 
Julius'  misfortune,  "not  so  very  long  ago, 
one  might  see  at  Christmastime  a  live  fat 
ox  stalled  in  the  butchers'  shops,  garlanded 
with  paper  flowers  so  that  the  passers-by 
might  feed  their  eyes  on  their  prospectice 
Christmas  dinner.  We  have,  perhaps,  got 
beyond  that  now;  still  I  think  I  have  seen 
more  cruelty  in  any  one  English  town  than 
in  the  whole  of  Russia." 

Koolic,  with  deep-breathing  earnestness 
of  purpose,  maintained  a  steady  tramp 
around  Herr  Julius ;  and  Jonathan  easily 
decided  to  defer  his  own  haircutting  until 
such  time  as  he  could  ride  into  Oof  a.  The 
voices  of  peasants  at  work  on  a  new  store 
and  weigh-house  at  the  mine  came  down 
from  the  clearing,  and  the  gleam  of  their 
axes  flashed  into  the  verandah.  Down  the 
dusty  road  past  the  workings  came  a  mes- 
senger jolting  along  in  a  curious  little  two- 
wheeled  cart,  having  its  single  seat  perched 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  51 

at  the  end  of  a  short  pole  stuck,  at  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees,  into  the  axle-tree. 
He  turned  into  the  cart-track  through  the 
forest,  as  if  going  to  the  village. 

"Looks  like  a  post  coming  in,"  said  Jon- 
athan. And  presently  from  the  office 
came  a  clerk  with  newspapers  and  a  mes- 
sage that  the  drills  and  other  mining  gear 
were  lying  at  the  wharf  at  Oofa. 

"I  will  ride  over  and  see  about  getting 
them  sent  on,"  said  Jonathan.  "Do  you 
care  to  go?" 

"Yes,"  replied  Herr  Julius,  after  a  mo- 
ment's consideration.  "I  am  out  of  cyan- 
ide— und  they  would  not  give  it  to  effery- 
body." 

So  that  night  Jonathan  said  to  Yelaina 
Grigorovna — it  was  in  the  salle  after  sup- 
per and  Herr  Julius  was  at  the  piano 
swaying  through  Schubert's  Serenade. 

"Herr  Julius  and  I  are  going  to  ride 
over  to  Oofa  to-morrow;  the  things  for  the 
mine  are  there." 


52  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Oh!  You  should  start  early,  then — 
the  heat  will  be  dreadful  later,"  she  re- 
plied. 

"We  shall  start  about  six." 

"It  is  delightful  then,  Anna  Andrea- 
ovna  and  I  have  been  riding  in  the  morn- 
ings lately,  perhaps  we  may  join  you  for  a 
verst  or  two." 

"In  that  case  we  will  wait  for  you." 

"No,  don't  wait,  for  we  may  not  go." 

"At  any  rate  they  will  know  at  the 
stables,  and  if  you  are  going  we  will  wait," 
said  he. 

The  next  morning  when  Jonathan  and 
Herr  Julius  got  down  to  the  stables  they 
found  a  gray  half-bred  Arab — brought  a 
yearling  from  Colonel  Lityainyeff's  stable 
at  Kazan — being  prepared  for  Yelaina, 
and  a  sturdy  little  animal — with  the  black 
stripes  of  the  Vatyak  strain  down  his  back 
— ready  saddled  for  Anna  Andreaovna, 
while  two  other  horses  were  being  got 
ready  for  themselves — a  high-peaked  Cos- 
sack saddle  on  one,  an  English  saddle, 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  53 

rather  ancient  and  mildewed,  on  the 
other. 

It  had  only  been  after  some  considera- 
tion that  Herr  Julius  had  decided  to  ride 
instead  of  going  packed  round  with  pil- 
lows in  a  pavoska;  but  having  decided 
upon  riding,  he  had  put  on  an  immense 
pair  of  thigh-boots,  which  with  his  bushy 
beard  and  gold  spectacles  gave  him  some- 
what the  appearance  of  a  benevolent  high- 
wayman. Presently,  through  a  narrow 
doorway  leading  from  the  garden,  came 
Yelaina  followed  by  Anna  Andreaovna. 
She  wore  a  cream  riding-gown  of  raw  un- 
dressed silk,  and  in  front  of  her  drooping 
hat  was  a  bunch  of  leaf-green  color. 

The  road  lay  past  the  workings,  then  for 
about  three  versts  through  a  wide  forest 
road,  emerging  from  which  it  skirted  it  for 
another  three  and  finally,  at  the  boundary 
of  the  estate,  joined  the  Great  Military 
Road  to  Oof  a.  A  thin  morning  mist  still 
lay  in  the  forest  road,  slashed  at  intervals 
through  openings  in  the  trees  with  bars  of 


54s  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

sunlight.  The  gray  stretched  his  neck  for 
a  gallop,  and  presently  Yelaina  let  him  go, 
and  Jonathan  found  that  his  bigger,  heav- 
ier animal  had  hard  work  to  keep  its  nose 
alongside  the  gray's  flank.  The  others 
were  left  behind,  though  at  intervals  Herr 
Julius*  voice  could  still  be  heard  in  the  dis- 
tance addressing  stern  words  of  rebuke  to 
his  horse.  The  pace  soon  brought  them 
to  the  end  of  the  forest  road,  where  a  peas- 
ant and  his  wife  who  were  sitting  by  the 
roadside  rose  to  open  the  gate  and  fall  on 
their  knees  by  the  path. 

"Get  up — please  get  up!"  called  Ye- 
laina to  them  as  she  passed. 

"Their  patriarchal  idea  of  reverence," 
said  Jonathan,  as  they  steadied  their 
horses  to  a  walk. 

"Yes.  Oh,  they  are  just  like  children," 
she  answered — "great  patient  children; 
and  with  such  strange  ideas.  You  would 
have  difficulty  in  finding  one  who  could 
read  or  write.  I  suppose  in  England  all 
the  peasants  are  educated?" 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  55 

"Well,  you  see,  we  have  no  peasants  in 
the  sense  you  mean,  but  what  we  have  all 
possess  some  sort  of  education,  that  is, 
they  can  read  and  write." 

"And  with  us  not  three  per  cent.! 
Then  there  are  no  famines  with  you,"  she 
said ;  "though  I  remember  my  father  tell- 
ing me  that  there  are  very  many  poor  in 
your  towns,  and  that  they  seemed  to  be 
more  dreadfully  wretched  than  even  our 
peasants.  But  life  altogether  must  be 
different  in  England." 

"Infinitely  less  restful,"  replied  Jona- 
than. "Here  you  still  have  the  old  patri- 
archal atmosphere,  and  time  seems  not  to 
exist.  With  us  time  is  of  moment — or  we 
like  to  pretend  that  it  is.  We  rush  our 
trains  from  town  to  town  and  send  depu- 
tations to  have  them  go  still  more  quickly ; 
our  ships  are  built  to  race  against  time  and 
we  are  proud  of  each  second  saved.  Still, 
I  have  yet  to  meet  the  man  to  whom  half- 
an-hour  more  or  less  on  a  journey  would 
make  anv  vital  difference." 


56  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"I  should  not  like  to  be  always  in  a 
hurry,"  said  Yelaina. 

"I  am  sure  you  would  not — nor  do  we, 
always.  One  is  only  in  a  hurry  until  one 
is  rich  or  the  hope  of  being  so  is  lost." 

"But  why  do  the  English  love  riches 

sor 

"Do  we?  Xot  more  than  others,  I 
think.  Perhaps  we  make  the  getting  of 
our  riches  more  unnecessarily  unpleasant 
than  need  be." 

"Yet,"  answered  Yelaina,  "one  always 
hears  that  the  rich  Englishman  is  very 
generous  with  his  wealth." 

"Perhaps  it  is  something  like  this;  our 
ancestry  is  still  in  us — we  love  hunting  and 
shooting  and  fishing,  and  in  England  one 
must  be  rich  to  enjoy  these  things.  Our 
silk-hatted  business-man  generally  dreams 
of  retiring  to  dwell  amongst  green  fields 
and  cattle,  and  he  fights  an  uncommonly 
keen  fight  for  his  money.  While  he  is 
e  is  not  always  a  very  admirable 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  57 

animal,  but  having  got  his  wealth  he  is 
generally  a  generous  one." 

"Then,"  answered  Yelaina  thought- 
fully, "in  England  one  must  be  rich  to 
have  what  here  our  poorest  peasant  enjoys 
for  nothing?  It  seems  strange!" 

"Yes,"  replied  Jonathan;  "but  perhaps 
things  are  more  equal  with  us ;  there  is  less 
oppression — we  are  very  proud  of  our  po- 
litical freedom,  you  know." 

"Are  you  so  very  free  in  England?" 

"Socially,  no;  politically,  I  think,  yes." 

"But  what  would  our  poor  peasants 

do  with  political  freedom?     I  sometimes 

think  it  is  more — more  religious  freedom 

that  we  need.     Politics! — somehow  even 

the  word  sounds  wrong — at  anv  rate  it 

m 

is   not   yet   for   us — and   yet "     She 

stopped  suddenly:     "There  is  the  bound- 
ary of  our  estate,"  she  went  on,  as  a  long 
line  of  trees  became  visible  upon  the  sky- 
line; "the  Oofa  high  road  is  just  behind." 
They  broke  into  a  canter  which  soon 


58  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

brought  them  to  the  heavily-hung  gate 
that  opened  to  the  roadway. 

Jonathan  dismounted  to  open  it,  and 
waited  for  Yelaina  to  pass  through.  She 
remained  with  her  horse's  head  in  a  line 
with  the  gate-posts,  keeping  the  animal 
rigidly  in  hand. 

"See,"  she  said,  pointing  with  her  whip 
down  to  the  roadway  and  speaking  in  a  low 
voice,  "see,  I  may  not  plant  one  hoof  of 
my  horse  on  that  highway! — and  there  is 
all  this  beautiful  country  around  us — and 

the  sunshine — and "  Her  voice 

broke  into  a  stifled  sob,  and  wheeling  her 
horse  she  rode  rapidly  down  the  road 
whence  they  had  come. 

Jonathan,  with  a  look  of  surprise,  held 
the  gate  for  a  moment;  then  slowly  let  it 
swing  to,  and  with  the  reins  over  his  arm, 
stood  leaning  over  it. 

Herr  Julius  came  jolting  up  alone, 
Anna  Andreaovna  having  turned  to  fol- 
low Yelaina  Grigorovna  as  she  passed. 

"What  is  wrong?"  he  inquired. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  59 

"I  don't  know,"  answered  Jonathan. 
''Something  seems  to  have  disturbed  Ye- 
laina  Grigorovna — what,  I  really  don't 
know!" 

"Der  wass  tears  on  her  cheeks,"  said 
Herr  Julius. 

An  hour's  ride  along  the  green  and 
shady  high  road  brought  them  to  Oofa. 
Oofa  is  very  like  most  other  small  Rus- 
sian towns  east  of  Moscow.  Western 
civilization  is  sufficiently  far  off  to  be  in- 
teresting and  a  thing  to  be  eagerly  imi- 
tated. The  wonders  of  advancing  science 
and  discovery  are  much  discussed  there, 
and  as  the  people  still  retain  their  faith  in 
newspapers,  interest  in  these  things  is 
stimulated  by  glorified  illustrations  in  the 
meager  journals  which  reach  them  from 
Petersburg  and  Moscow. 

The  town  itself  was  quite  uninterest- 
ing, and  Jonathan  and  Herr  Julius  set 
about  their  business  at  once.  The  mining 
implements  were  found  at  the  wharf 


60  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

among  a  heterogenous  mass  of  goods  of 
all  kinds — bales  of  tea  sewn  up  in  un- 
dressed sheepskins,  bundles  of  Tartar  slip- 
pers and  fezes,  piles  of  straw-packed  bent- 
wood  furniture  and  cool  arrays  of  giant 
watermelons.  A  couple  of  peasants  con- 
tracted to  cart  the  implements  to  Mar- 
dova;  and  while  Herr  Julius  looked  after 
his  chemicals,  Jonathan  sought  out  a  bar- 
ber's. Then  after  a  visit  to  the  general 
store,  they  lunched — in  a  little  garden 
overlooking  the  river — off  a  couple  of  im- 
mense veal  cutlets,  a  slab  of  cheese,  the 
remnants  of  a  tin  of  sardines,  and  a  bottle 
of  red  wine,  followed  by  the  samovar  and 
tea.  They  lingered  in  the  garden  to  rest 
their  horses,  so  that  it  was  evening  before 
they  reached  Mardova,  where  Koolic,  in 
freshly-ironed  blouse,  moved  stolidly 
about  the  table  upon  which  Seraphima  had 
a  well-cooked  dinner  spread. 

Though  they  sat  far  into  the  still  twi- 
light which  made  the  night,  Herr  Julius 
sporadically  at  the  piano,  Jonathan  was 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  61 

awake  early  next  morning.  His  room 
was  hot  though  the  windows  were  open. 
Outside  all  was  bathed  in  a  sunlit  haze. 
At  the  mine  workmen  were  already  busy, 
while  from  a  softening  distance  came  the 
sound  of  men's  voices  singing  their  work- 
song  in  unison  as  they  dragged  some  heavy 
log  through  the  forest.  Jonathan  lay  for 
awhile  listening  to  the  song — always  the 
same  when  heavy  work  was  to  be  done, 
from  end  to  end  of  Russia.  From  its 
fluctuations  he  could  follow  the  progress 
of  the  work — a  pause  and  an  emphasized 
note  when  a  pull  altogether  was  required, 
the  even  roll  of  the  notes  when  the  log  was 
following  easily,  a  long  pause  while  they 
rested,  then  the  beginning  again  of  the 
song — 


^ijjJ3jtoi:jnjij]|- 

J-    V  ••-  V   *-0-  m  -*- 


Lightly  dressing,  he  went  out  into  the 
hum  of  insects,  across  the  clearing  and  into 


62  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

the  forest  at  the  side  where,  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  from  the  house,  was  a  deep, 
tree-shaded  pool  made  by  the  damming  of 
the  brook  to  maintain  a  supply  of  water  in 
case  of  fire  in  the  village  or  at  the  big 
house.  It  was  a  shapely,  clean-skinned 
body  that  bared  itself  to  the  view  of  the 
trees  as  Jonathan  took  his  plunge  from  the 
sluice-gates.  There  was  coolness  in  the 
splashing  of  the  water,  and  in  the  quiver- 
ing shine  of  the  pebbles  beneath.  Emerg- 
ing with  dead  leaves  and  the  seeds  of  last 
year's  grasses  clinging  to  his  skin,  he 
dressed  fitfully  and  thoughtfully  and, 
lighting  a  cigarette,  sat  down  on  the  beam 
which  extended  on  either  side  of  the  pool. 
And  little  islands  and  memorable  places 
of  the  past  came  to  him,  while  in  the  back- 
ground there  was  always  the  incident  of 
the  previous  morning's  ride. 

The  post  that  came  in  a  couple  of  days 
before  had  brought  him  a  letter  from 
home;  he  took  it  from  his  pocket — 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  63 

Kirkthorp  Vicarage, 

Durham, 
May  20,  188-. 

"My  DEAR  JONATHAN  [it  began], 

"I  find  there  is  just  time  for  me  to 
write  to  you  and  catch  this  post  in  time,  it 
should  be,  for  you  to  get  it  before  you  start 
out  into  the  wilderness  once  more. 

"We  are  so  interested  in  what  you  told 
us  about  this  Madame  Mardoff  and  her 
copper  mines.  We  shall  be  quite  anxious 
to  know  how  they  go  on.  Papa  thinks  it 
is  just  the  thing  that  Uncle  David  would 
have  interested  himself  in. 

"We  are  going  to  lose  Mr.  Heddingly; 

he  has  got  the  Vicarage  of  • ,  Leeds, 

and  is  gone  there  to-day  to  make  final  ar- 
rangements. It  is  a  parish  that  will  just 
suit  him — poor  and  lots  of  hard  work — but 
it  means  another  new  curate  worry  for  us. 
In  connection  with  this  I  must  tell  you 
papa's  latest.  The  school  children  have 
subscribed  to  give  Mr.  Heddingly  a  re- 
volving bookcase,  and  the  other  afternoon 


64  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

when  Captain  and  the  Misses  Butterby 
were  over,  papa  began  to  tell  them  of  it. 
'You  know,'  he  said,  in  his  impressive  way, 
'it  is  really  good  of  them — only  the  chil- 
dren, you  know — they  are  going  to  give 
him  a  very  large  and  handsome  circulat- 
ing library.'  'A  circulating  library !'  said 
our  guests  in  astonishment,  'really,  how 
very  eurious !'  I,  of  course,  explained  that 
it  was  a  revolving  bookcase  that  papa 
meant.  However,  he  maintained  that  he 
was  not  very  far  wrong,  'because  it  really 
does  circulate,  you  know.' 

"Now  do  you  know,  sir,  I  think  you 
very  ungallant  in  so  insisting  upon  my 
thirty  years?  I  am  not  at  all  afraid  of 
them;  I  enjoy  them,  and  I  rather  think  I 
shall  enjoy  being  forty  equally  as  well. 
But  why  insist  so  upon  my  present  thirty? 
Were  I  a  man,  I  am  inclined  to  think  I 
should  choose  my  wife  of  forty.  There- 
fore, sir,  let  us  wait  until  I  am  forty,  and 
you  shall  find  what  an  excellent  wife  I  will 
be.  We  are  both  of  us  much  too  sensible 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  65 

to  be  lovesick;  so  I  say — let  us  wait.  Do 
you  remember  our  once  seeing  a  picture  of 
the  Romans  leaving  Britain,  in  which  a 
British  maiden  sat  with  distraught  look 
watching  the  boats  that  were  to  bear  away 
her  Roman?  Well,  were  we  to  marry 
now,  I  should  be  ever  playing  the  lone 
British  maiden  watching  the  departure  of 
her  Roman  to  unknown  wilds.  No,  seri- 
ously, Jonathan,  dear,  we  are  both  very 
comfortable  as  we  are,  in  the  meantime; 
and  I  think  you  really  agree  with  me  in 
this. 

"Papa  tells  me  to  say  that  we  could  do 
with   another   supply   of   caviare — which 
means  that  you  are  to  send  some.     Don't 
forget.     You  did  not  say  when  you  expect 
to  be  back ;  we  suppose  by  the  winter. 
"Love  and  good-by  from  us  both,  and 
"Believe  me  to  be  ever  your  affectionate 
and  sensible  cousin, 

"TERESA  FORTY." 

When  he  returned  to  the  house  Herr 


66  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Julius  had  already  satisfied  the  edge  of 
his  morning  appetite,  and  was  smoking  a 
cigarette  over  his  third  glass  of  coffee. 


VI 

WITHIN  half-an-hour  after  turn- 
ing her  horse's  head  from  the 
highway,  Yelaina  had  recovered  her  calm- 
ness. She  was  very  far  from  being  hys- 
terical in  the  ordinary  sense ;  but  since  her 
detention  at  Mardova  there  came  times 
when  she  was  somewhat  overborne  with  a 
feeling  of  half -hysterical  terror  and  suffo- 
cation— times  of  almost  fierce  longing  to 
be  a  girl  again  with  her  father  in  Kazan; 
and  wakeful  nights  of  palpitating  dread, 
when  only  the  sound  of  servants  stirring 
in  the  house  made  sleep  possible.  During 
the  day  these  feelings  were  more  easily 
thrown  off — a  change  of  room  or  occupa- 
tion, a  discussion  with  Varvara  Stepa- 
novna,  or  a  walk  or  ride  with  Anna  An- 
dreaovna  would  always  bring  back  her 
usual  calm  content ;  and  outwardly  she  was 


67 


68  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

cheerful,  and  no  one,  save,  perhaps,  Var- 
vara  Stepanovna,  suspected  these  inner 
feelings.  Therefore  her  momentary 
weakness  at  the  highway  was  the  more 
annoying;  and  a  little  dwelling  upon  it 
gave  it  power  to  distress  her  ana  make  her 
angry  and  ashamed. 

A  night's  thought  brought  a  resolution. 
English  people  were  contemptuous  of  any 
show  of  emotion,  therefore  it  was  most  un- 
fortunate that  her  one  break-down  had  oc- 
curred before  the  Englishman — he  should 
know  the  reason !  She  was  aware  that  the 
cause  of  her  stay  alone  at  Mardova  would 
be  known  on  the  estate  and  in  the  sur- 
rounding villages,  but  Ivan  Daviditch  1 — 
for  convenience  in  speaking  of  him  to  serv- 
ants and  the  workpeople  the  Russian  mode 
of  address  had  come  to  be  used — would 
hardly  be  likely  to  know.  The  injustice 
of  her  detention  cleared  it  of  any  idea  of 
shame ;  yet  to  explain  before  others  would 
be  awkward,  else  there  would  be  oppor- 

i  Literally,  Jonathan,  son  of  David. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  69 

tunity  enough  on  the  frequent  evenings 
when  he  and  Herr  Kamff  came  to  supper. 
She  would  make  an  opportunity  on  one  of 
her  afternoon  drives  of  going  round  by  the 
mine,  when,  if  he  were  about,  she  could 
call  him  up  and  in  a  few  words  explain. 

So  a  couple  of  afternoons  later  her 
linaka  stopped  by  the  workings.  Jona- 
than was  at  work  in  a  little  hollow,  super- 
intending the  placing  of  a  blasting  charge, 
when  a  workman  told  him  that  the  barinya 
wished  to  speak  with  him.  As  he  came  up 
to  the  carriage  Yelaina  noticed  what  a 
graceful,  well-knit  figure  he  had  in  white 
shirt  and  trousers  and  white  peaked  cap, 
with  the  sunlight  playing  upon  his  short 
brown  beard. 

"I  have  been  busy  with  one  of  the 
drills,"  he  said,  smilingly  holding  out  a 
pair  of  oil-stained  hands. 

"Then  I  fear  I  have  interrupted  you — 
any  time  would  have  done,"  she  said. 

"No,  I  have  finished.  We  are  just 
ready  to  fire  a  shot;  perhaps  you  would 


70  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

like  to  watch  it,  Yelaina  Grigorovna? 
You  would  be  perfectly  safe  on  the 
high  ground  above  there.  Let  me  take 
you." 

"But  what  about  the  horses?" 

"They  can  go  further  on.  Drive  on 
into  the  next  hollow,"  he  said  to  the  coach- 
man, as  she  alighted. 

Conducting  her  to  a  table  of  greensward 
above,  he  called  down  some  instructions  to 
Peotra,  who,  feeling  his  mistress's  eye 
upon  him,  became  a  man  of  importance,  as 
in  commanding  tone  he  ordered  the  men 
into  shelter  and  gesticulated  with  his  lamp 
to  insure  it  being  noticed  that  he  was  the 
one  to  fire  the  charge.  Then  it  came,  with 
a  muffled  rumble  and  a  cloud  of  dust,  and 
the  men  sprang  again  into  view  from  be- 
hind rocks  and  all  manner  of  unseen  shel- 
tering places,  while  a  piece  of  the  rock  was 
brought  up  for  Yelaina's  inspection. 

"I  wish  Anna  Andreaovna  had  been 
here,"  she  said.  "She  generally  comes 
with  me,  but  she  is  busy  this  afternoon. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  71 

What  a  change  in  a  few  weeks !     And  how 
many  men  have  you  employed?" 

"A  little  over  fifty— fifty-two,  I  think." 
"And  when  it  is  working  full?" 
"More  than  double  that,  certainly." 
"So  if  it  be  arranged,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  take  one  worker  from  each  house,  there 
will  be  at  least  a  hundred  households  earn- 
ing a  steady  wage.     I  have  thought  of 
this,  and  wished  for  it  for  so  long — I  am 
happy  to  see  it  at  last  going  on !" 

"Well,  I  think  there  need  be  no  more 
fear  of  its  not  being  a  success,"  said  Jona- 
than. "Every  pood  of  ore  that  can  be 
won  before  the  rivers  close  is  sold.  I  can 
assure  you  it  is  going  to  be  a  profitable  un- 
dertaking." 

They  stood  for  awhile  watching  the  men 
wheel  the  riven  stone  to  the  storeground 
near  the  weigh-house.  The  afternoon  be- 
ing very  hot,  Yelaina  moved  her  sunshade 
to  include  Jonathan's  head  and  neck. 
Below,  Peotra  was  busy  with  some  men  by 
one  of  the  drills. 


72  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Do  you  notice,"  she  said,  after  awhile, 
"how  Peotra  always  uses  the  English 
'Stop,'  when  ordering  his  men  to  cease 
work?" 

"Yes,"  saiot  Jonathan.  "I  find  it  is 
generally  used  throughout  Russia  where 
machinery  is  concerned." 

Then  they  spoke  of  the  word  "Pod- 
terbak,"  used  on  all  tfce  Volga  steamboats 
when  sounding;  the  man  in  the  bows  call- 
ing out  the  word  before  laying  aside  the 
sounding-pole  on  finding  a  safe  depth  of 
water ;  the  word  being  really  a  survival  of 
the  command,  "Put  her  back,"  used  by  the 
English  captains  who  first  navigated 
steamboats  on  the  Volga.  Then,  the  time 
being  come  to  speak  of  what  she  had  come 
about,  Yelaina  shrank  from  mentioning  it, 
and  instead  asked  if  he  had  tried  the  shoot- 
ing, and  spoke  of  the  wildfowl  to  be  had 
on  the  steppe.  They  had  moved  across 
the  bit  of  greensward  to  a  gate  in  a  light 
withe  fence  enclosing  some  cornland  be- 
tween the  mine  and  the  forest  beyond,  and 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  73 

she  now  stood  nervously  with  her  hand  on 
the  hot  bar  of  the  gate.  Then  she  said — 

"Ivan  Daviditch,  did  you  not  think  it 
very  strange  of  me  leaving  you  so  ab- 
ruptly the  other  morning — the  morning 
of  our  ride,  I  mean?" 

"Yes,  I  think  I  did,  for  the  moment,"  he 
replied.  "But  I  thought  that  perhaps 
you  did  not  feel  well — that  the  heat  had 
upset  you." 

"It  was  not  that.  I You  have 

heard  of  the  Countess  Valletski,  per- 
haps?" 

"I  knew  her  very  slightly." 

"She  is  dead  now,  you  know.  We  were 
correspondents — and  some  of  my  letters 
were  found.  There  must  have  been  some- 
thing in  them  to  displease  the  Administra- 
tion, for  I  was  sent  down  here  to  Mardova 
— and — and  I  may  not  go  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  estate.  And  it  was  the 
knowledge  of  that  which  upset  me  on  com- 
ing to  the  highway.  Of  course,  it  was 
very  foolish  of  me " 


74  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"I  don't  think  it  was  at  all  foolish," 
Jonathan  answered,  looking  away  over 
the  waving  corn.  "I  think  it  was  quite 
natural.  I  am  sorry  I  should  have  been 
the  cause  of  bringing  the  thing  so  un- 
pleasantly before  you." 

"It  was  very,  very  foolish,"  she  contin- 
ued. "It  is  no  punishment  to  be  here — of 
all  places  Mardova  is  where  I  would  wish 
to  be — it  is  only  the  feeling  of  restraint 
which  is  at  times  a  little  dreadful." 

"Very  dreadful,  I  should  think,"  said 
Jonathan  slowly,  still  looking  away  across 
the  corn  and  mechanically  pulling  hand- 
fuls  of  the  tall  grass  that  grew  within  the 
gate  to  wipe  his  oil-stained  palms. 

"But  you  must  not  think  Russia  such  a 
terrible  place;  it  is  not,  you  know — noth- 
ing like  what  it  is  made  out  to  be.  No- 
where is  the  ordinary  criminal  treated  so 
leniently  as  with  us ;  why,  you  in  England 
hang  your  murderers,  while  we  practically 
have  no  death  penalty.  Our  prisoners  are 
sent  to  Siberia,  yes,  but  they  are  so  lightly 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  75 

looked  after  that  many  of  them  escape! 
It  is  only  the  political  prisoners  who  are 
treated  harshly.  And  I  fear  their  suffer- 
ings are  dreadful  indeed,"  she  said  sorrow- 
fully. 

Jonathan  knew  this  to  be  true.  Often 
during  his  visits  to  the  Oorals,  his  camp 
fire  had  been  sought  by  escaping  convicts, 
who  without  exception,  were  all  of  the  sor- 
did type ;  not  once  had  he  met  the  refined 
political  prisoner,  of  whom  so  much  is 
heard. 

"But  it  is  dreadful,"  he  began,  "that  you 
should  be  punished " 

"It  is  not  punishment,"  she  interrupted. 

"Well — that  you  can  be  treated  so  for 
what  must  be  so  slight  a  cause.  It  could 
be  possible  nowhere  but  in  Russia  " 

"Yes,  Russia  is  different,  I  know,"  she 
replied.  "And  perhaps  we  are  a  strange 
people;  I  believe  there  is  not  one  of  the 
laws  or  customs  of  the  rest  of  Europe  that 
could  be  used  by  us  without  modification. 
A  strange  people — but  to  whom  much  is 


76  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

possible!  Just  as  to  him  whom  the  high- 
est nobleness  is  possible  is  possible  the 
deepest  baseness;  so  with  Russia;  and  so 
do  we  need  governing,  and  so  can  we  be 
noble.  I  know  it  and  feel  it  all — even  in 
my  own  body."  She  placed  her  closed  left 
hand  upon  her  breast  and  went  on  enthu- 
siastically: "To  aid  that  infinite  future 
nothing  would  be  too  great  to  give — death 
would  be  a  delight,  no  martyrdom — but  a 
delicious  holiness  of  giving  up  to  my  great- 
est power.  Yes,  a  strange  people!"  She 
paused,  with  shining  eyes,  while  Jona- 
than said  gently — 

"When  her  people  love  her  so,  she  can- 
not be  other  than  great.  I,  too,  believe  in 
Russia's  future." 

"Yes,  believe  me,  even  her  faults  are 
but  signs  of  what  she  can  be.  I  sometimes 
think  we  are  as  Southerners  born  in  a 
Northern  land — full  of  contradictions. 
Oh,  yes,  there  are  times  when  I  under- 
stand what  one  short  day  of  perfect  free- 
dom would  be — untrammeled  by  training 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  77 

or  knowledge — no  future — only  the  pres- 
ent— with  all  its  inherited  instincts  of  life ! 
Ah,  I  am  talking  wildly!"  she  said.  "And 
how  long  we  have  been  talking!" 

She  motioned  to  the  coachman,  who 
brought  his  horses  up  at  a  gallop.  "For- 
give me  for  keeping  you  so  long  from  your 
work.  Good-by!" 

And  the  carriage  wended  its  way  down 
the  road  past  the  workings,  and  along  the 
rough  cart-track  into  the  forest.  And 
Jonathan  turned  to  the  gate  and  stood  for 
a  long  while  looking  across  the  fields, 
where  the  summer  heat  was  shimmering 
and  the  corn  was  ripening. 


VII 

ANDREA  ANDREAITCH  and 
Marya  Ivanovna  often  sat  long 
about  their  samovar  of  an  evening.  The 
way  things  were  developing  at  the  mine 
went  a  little  beyond  their  calculations,  and 
caused  them  much  grave  discussion. 
There  were  quite  a  number  of  households 
now  who  no  longer  showed  their  usual  re- 
spectful humility  in  their  presence.  And 
Marya  Ivanovna's  brown  fat  face  puck- 
ered in  scorn  as  she  gave  her  husband  an 
account  one  evening  of  her  visit  to  Sonika 
village,  where  Peotra  lived.  Peotra's 
wife  had  just  returned  from  Oof  a,  where 
she  had  been  buying  new  printed  muslin 
gowns  for  her  two  daughters,  and  had 
shown  these  to  her — Marya  Ivanovna' — 
with  an  air  of  no  longer  needing  advice  or 
permission  before  making  so  daring  a  pur- 

78 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  79 

chase,  and  had  actually  spoken  of  her 
daughters  as  "barishnyee"  1  But  Marya 
Ivanovna  saw  further  than  poor  Peotra's 
wife.  Why,  these  two  foreigners  spent 
almost  every  evening  now  at  the  Big 
House.  She  knew  what  that  meant! 
Let  them  bide  their  time — she  could  bide 
hers!  And  Marya  Ivanovna  blew  and 
sipped  her  tea  and  nodded  her  head  wisely 
with  half-closed  eyes. 

Andrea  Andreaitch  spat  upon  the  floor 
and  rubbed  his  mustache  with  the  back  of 
his  hand.  He  saw  even  further  than 
Marya  Ivanovna,  and  knew  more  than  he 
told  her.  He  had  listened  lately  to  many 
stories  from  the  "peasant  fools"  of  all  that 
this  wonderful  mine  was  to  do.  One  vil- 
lage was  to  have  a  school  where  their  chil- 
dren would  be  fed  and  clothed  the  year 
round;  another  believed  that  soon  there 
would  be  no  more  taxes  to  pay;  a  third  that 
the  mine  was  to  be  wholly  given  over  to 
them  and  managed  by  a  village  council. 

i  Young  ladies. 


80  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Andrea  Andreaitch  listened  to  all  and  de- 
nied nothing,  but  rather,  by  his  interest, 
encouraged  the  talk.  He  ostentatiously 
kept  away  from  the  mine,  but  little  went 
on  there  that  was  not  mentioned  in  his  re- 
ports to  Paul  Alexandritch.  His  last  re- 
port had  spoken  of  a  large  quantity  of  ore 
having  been  sold,  and  hinted  that  if  the 
mine  were  only  under  careful  direction  it 
might  prove  a  source  of  considerable  rev- 
enue. Immediately  before  receiving  this 
report,  Paul  Alexandritch  had  been  upon 
the  point  of  ordering  the  mine  to  be  closed ; 
for,  in  spite  of  the  influence  which  his  new 
.department  gave  him,  he  had  more  than 
an  impression  that  his  standing  with  his 
colleagues  was  not  what  it  had  been;  and 
at  the  last  Council  of  Ministers,  while  they 
were  chatting  before  dispersing,  he  had 
been  suddenly  asked  about  the  meaning 
of  this  new  work  at  Mardova.  He  an- 
swered carelessly  that  it  was  only  an  ordi- 
nary development  which  had  been  con- 
templated a  long  time.  But  it  made  him 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  81 

nervous.  However,  the  prospect  of  in- 
creased revenue  was  not  to  be  disregarded, 
for  he  had  begun  to  increase  his  style  of 
living,  and,  missing  the  helpful  charm 
which  his  wife  had  cast  about  his  social  do- 
ings, meant  to  entertain  yet  more  largely. 
He  wished  she  had  been  detained  any- 
where but  at  Mardova,  so  that  he  could 
have  made  the  separation  yet  more  com- 
plete. The  justice  of  her  treatment  was 
not  questioned,  her  wrongdoing  was  evi- 
denced by  her  punishment.  However,  he 
decided  not  to  stop  the  mine  in  the  mean- 
time; especially  as  at  any  time  he  could 
take  the  working  of  it  into  his  own  hands. 
He  therefore  contented  himself  by  writing 
directly  to  Jonathan,  asking  for  a  detailed 
report  of  things. 

Jonathan  showed  the  letter  to  Yelaina, 
who,  flushing  as  she  read  it,  asked  him  to 
send  a  complete  report.  This,  accord- 
ingly, he  did,  mentioning  at  the  end  of  it 
that  he  anticipated  his  further  services 
would  soon  be  unnecessary.  For  Jona- 


82  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

than  had  of  late  been  in  considerable 
mental  unrest  and  doubt,  and  his  trouble 
was  one  in  which  philosophy  is  useless. 
It  had  become  clear  to  him  that  he  would 
be  wise  to  push  on  the  work  and  get  away 
from  Mardova  as  soon  as  possible.  But 
there  was  yet  much  work  to  do — which  he 
had  engaged  to  do — and  duty  and  inclina- 
tion coinciding,  while  cold  wisdom  differed 
from  both,  he  lost  much  of  his  usual  de- 
cision and  became  hesitating  and  self-cen- 
tered. In  the  meantime  out  on  the  steppe 
the  hay  was  mown,  and,  under  the  shear- 
ing, the  lakelets  came  into  clear-cut  view 
once  more,  and  the  corn  was  cut  and  stood 
on  the  land  in  drowsy  sheaves. 

Then  one  day  in  a  letter  from  a  mining 
firm  in  Petersburg  casual  mention  was 
made  of  the  separation  between  Monsieur 
and  Madame  Mardoff. 

"I  was  not  aware,"  said  he  to  Herr 
Julius,  "that  there  was  so  complete  an 
estrangement  between  Yelaina  Grigo- 
rovna  and  her  husband." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  83 

"So  it  is  said  in  Petersburg;  Paul  Alex- 
andritch  seems  to  make  no  secret  of  it,"  re- 
plied Herr  Julius. 

"I  knew,  of  course,  that  there  was  some 
gossip,  but  I  paid  no  heed  to  it.  Is  it  a  re- 
cent thing?" 

"Since  dis  trouble  mit  der  Administra- 
tion. Paul  Alexandritch  is  what  you  call 
a  careful  man." 

"I  know  nothing  about  him,  though  I 
almost  wish  I  had  left  his  letter  unan- 
swered." 

"I  think,"  replied  Herr  Julius,  "it  is 
better  dot  you  answered  it — better  for  Ye- 
laina  Grigorovna." 

"Perhaps  so,"  returned  Jonathan. 

But  the  news  disturbed  him ;  and  though 
he  now  felt  there  was  more  need  than  ever 
of  hurrying  on  with  things  at  the  mine,  he 
could  not  settle  to  work;  so  in  the  after- 
noon he  had  Koolic's  old  platyonka 
brought  round,  and  set  out  for  a  night's 
shooting  on  the  steppe. 

The  steppe  began  immediately  beyond 


84  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

the  village;  so  leaving  Koolic  with  his 
platyorika  to  follow  the  track,  Jonathan 
began  to  shoot  his  way  through  the  marshy 
ground  about  the  lagoons,  where  he  got 
among  the  snipe  at  once — a  fair  sprin- 
kling of  them  through  a  belt  of  about  three 
miles ;  then  beyond,  duck  and  teal,  but  the 
latter  so  difficult  of  approach  that  after 
only  three  birds  to  twelve  shots  he  decided 
to  wait  for  the  morning  flighting.  He  had, 
however,  done  fairly  well  among  the  snipe. 
— twenty  and  a  half  brace  to  be  placed 
in  the  platyonka — and  Koolic,  who  had 
watched  the  sport  from  his  seat,  and  in  ex- 
citement been  frequently  constrained  to 
pull  off  his  rough,  fmgerless  driving-glove 
and  cock  his  turban  at  all  manner  of 
angles,  fingered  the  birds  with  sporting 
keenness,  and  seemed  to  see  in  their 
plumpness  further  proof  of  Jonathan's 
skill;  while  the  cream-colored  Russian 
poodle,  which  Jonathan  had  but  recently 
bought,  squatted  on  his  haunches  and  pant- 
ingly  dropped  silvery  streaks  of  saliva 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  85 

about  his  feet,  keeping,  the  while,  a  bright 
look-out  for  further  and  impossible  birds. 
As  the  dusk  began  to  fall  a  fire  was 
lighted  on  a  bit  of  higher  ground,  and  the 
provision  basket  was  brought  out.  By  de- 
grees scattered  lights  came  out  in  the  vil- 
lage, about  four  miles  away,  and  a  little 
later,  higher  and  to  the  right,  a  brighter 
light,  which  could  be  only  from  the  big 
house.  Koolic,  after  a  full  meal,  lay 
stretched  beneath  the  platyorika  smoking 
evil  tobacco,  while  Jonathan,  on  a  heap  of 
hay  brought  from  the  stacks,  which  at  dim 
distances  stood  around,  prepared  for  sleep 
by  attempting  to  read  in  an  old  Tauchnitz 
volume  of  Browning.  But  the  flicker  of 
the  fire  made  it  difficult  to  read,  and  after 
awhile  he  closed  the  book.  He  knew 
much  of  it  by  heart,  and  passages  of  it  kept 
breaking  in  between  his  troubled  thoughts. 
To-morrow  was  a  holiday,  and  Yelaina 
Grigorovna  with  Varvara  Stepanovna  and 
some  of  the  servants  were  to  gather  black- 
berries in  the  forest,  and  Herr  Julius  and 


86  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

he  were  to  join  them  there  for  luncheon. 
He  would  shoot  his  way  in  that  direction 
in  the  morning,  and  get  to  the  spot  about 
midday.  So — he  would  go  straight  from 
here  to  meet  her! 

"So  is  my  spirit,  as  flesh  with  sin 

Filled  full,  eaten  out  and  in 

With  the  face  of  her,  the  eyes  of  her, 

The  lips,  the  little  chin,  the  stir 

Of  shadow  round  her  mouth;  and  she " 

Well — after  he  had  left  the  place  and 
was  back  once  more  in  England,  the  same 
far-off  sunsets  would  fade  over  the  steppe ; 
the  dim  lights  of  Mardova  would  twinkle 
out  as  he  had  watched  them  do  to-night; 

her  light  would  be  lit — and He 

wondered  whether  things  at  the  mine  could 
be  got  into  train  within  another  week — 
hardly — and  what  a  long  time  a  week  was, 
and  how  terribly  short ! 

He  rose  and  walked  slowly  to  and  fro 
on  the  edge  of  the  firelight.  Soon  the  vil- 
lage was  lost  in  darkness,  and  there  re- 
mained only  the  light  at  the  house.  He 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  87 

returned  for  a  moment  to  the  fire  to  throw 
on  more  logs,  with  the  fanciful  idea  of 
keeping  an  answering  light  to  hers  away 
up  there.  He  wondered  whether  she  saw 
it!  Yes,  he  must  hurry  to  be  gone. 

In  ten  days'  time — or  at  most  a  fort- 
night— Herr  Julius  could  manage  by 
then.  He  must  get  back  to  England — 
and  then — and  then 

"Who  knows  but  the  world  may  end  to-night?" 

"What  if  heaven  be  that,  fair  and  strong 
At  life's  best,  with  our  eyes  upturned, 
Whither  life's  flower  is  first  discerned, 
We,  fixed  so,  ever  should  abide." 

His  walk  brought  him  to  the  platyorika, 
and  he  stopped  to  touch  the  spoilt  plum- 
age of  the  birds — stiff  and  cold  and  uncon- 
scious of  the  night,  their  eyes  closed  to  the 
clear  stars.  And  he  was  the  cause  of  it! 
but — was  there  not  some  stronger  power 
which,  with  more  lingering  cruelty, 
sported  so  with  us?  He  continued  his 
walk,  and  presently  the  light  at  the  house 
was  gone,  the  space  of  the  darkness  grew 


88  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

greater,  and  only  the  stars  were  left.  He 
struck  a  match  to  look  at  his  watch,  but  a 
night-puff  extinguished  the  flame;  how- 
ever, he  knew  it  must  be  near  midnight. 

That  evening  Yelaina  sat  with  Anna 
Andreaovna  in  the  salle  over  her  needle- 
work. Through  one  of  the  half-opened 
French  windows  a  yellow  point  of  light 
could  be  seen  down  on  the  steppe. 

"Herr  Kamff  said  that  Ivan  Daviditch 
was  away  shooting,"  Anna  Andreaovna 
remarked,  "probably  that  is  his  fire." 

"Yes?  But  that  light  is  not  more  than 
three  or  four  versts  away,"  answered  Ye- 
laina. 

Then  Varvara  Stepanovna  came  in 
about  some  household  matter.  As  she  was 
about  to  go,  Yelaina  said  to  her — 

"Some  one  is  camping  on  the  steppe  to- 
night. Did  Andrea  Andreaitch  say  they 
were  going  to  net  the  lagoons  this  week?" 

"No,  not  for  another  week  yet,"  replied 
Varvara  Stepanovna. 

About  ten  o'clock  Anna  Andreaovna 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  89 

grew  sleepy  and  was  dismissed  for  the 
night,  and  Yelaina  settled  to  read.  In  the 
center  of  the  narrow  strip  of  night  framed 
by  the  partially-open  window,  the  point  of 
light  still  burned.  Her  eyes  kept  wander- 
ing from  her  book  to  watch  it.  Presently 
she  rose  and  stood  looking  out:  all  was 
soundless  and  still,  and  she  passed  out  to 
the  balcony. 

Upon  her  return  she  moved  her  chair  to 
face  the  lamp ;  but  the  scent  of  foliage  and 
the  coming  and  going  of  moths  and  other 
night-flying  insects  kept  her  in  touch  with 
the  night  without,  while  the  open  window, 
with  its  yellow  star,  was  mirrored  in  the 
dark  background  of  an  opposite  picture 
of  Christ  in  the  wilderness.  The  book 
gradually  drooped  to  her  lap,  and  her  eyes 
gazed  idly  in  front  of  her.  At  length,  ris- 
ing hurriedly,  she  went  to  the  window  and 
drew  the  curtains. 


VIII 

THE  bramble-brake  where  the  black- 
berrying  was  to  be  lay  to  the  left  of 
the  house  in  the  forest  round  the  shoulder 
of  a  hill,  about  three  versts  away.  It 
could  be  approached  upon  its  western  side 
from  a  little  tongue  of  steppe  that  ran  into 
the  higher  ground  there. 

The  bay  of  forest — here  of  a  lower 
growth — lay  vivid  with  autumn  tints  as 
Jonathan  approached  it  on  the  following 
noon.  As  the  platyonka  began  to  force 
its  way  up  the  over-grown  track,  progress 
was  so  slow  that  Jonathan  pushed  ahead 
on  foot,  grateful  for  the  shade  and  the 
cool  aroma ;  and  half -an-hour's  walk  along 
the  wider  track  on  the  level  higher  ground 
brought  him  to  the  little  clearing  where 
the  luncheon  was  to  be.  A  lindka  and 
some  platyonkee  drawn  up  in  the  shade 

90 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  91 

told  that  the  party  had  arrived,  but  with 
the  exception  of  Varvara  Stepanovna, 
who  was  busy  about  a  little  trestle-table, 
no  one  of  them  was  to  be  seen. 

"They  are  all  away  gathering — Herr 
Kamff  also,"  said  the  housekeeper,  as  he 
greeted  her.  "But  lunch  is  quite  ready — 
no,  thank  you,  there  is  nothing  more  to  do, 
if  only  the  samovar  would  boil." 

So  Jonathan  sat  in  the  shade  and 
watched  the  drivers  feed  the  big  brass 
samovar  with  charcoal,  while  they  chatted 
and  smoked  cigarettes  hidden  in  their 
huge,  shapeless  hands  from  which  hung 
their  knotted-up  whips.  Varvara  Stepa- 
novna brought  him  a  sparkling  glass  of 
home-brewed  "braga,  and  as  she  handed  it 
to  him,  said — 

"Yelaina  Grigorovna  showed  me  over 
the  mine  this  morning  as  we  passed. 
How  the  place  is  altered." 

"Yes,  it  looks  busy  now,  does  it  not?" 

"Indeed,  yes — very  different  from  what 
I  have  known  it  all  these  years." 


92  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"And  it  will  be  still  busier,  I  hope.  I 
suppose  you  have  known  the  place  a  long 
while,  Varvara  Stepanovna?" 

"I  was  born  within  two  versts  from  it 
— at  Sonika,"  replied  Varvara. 

"Sonika,  that  is  Andrea  Andreaitch's 
village,  is  it  not?"  asked  Jonathan. 

"Yes,  of  course  he  was  born  a  peasant; 
he  was  not  always  as  he  is  now,"  said 
Varvara,  going  across  to  see  after  the 
samovar. 

Since  his  first  coming  to  Mardova, 
Jonathan  had  liked  the  old  woman  for  the 
tender  motherliness  which  showed  through 
her  quiet  deference  to  Yelaina;  while  the 
gentle  sadness  of  her  manner,  with  its  sug- 
gestion of  strength  and  endurance,  at- 
tracted him;  and  now,  as  he  watched  her 
move  about  the  table,  he  felt  that  the  face 
beneath  the  black  silk  shawl,  just  allow- 
ing an  inch  or  so  of  thick  gray  hair  to  be 
seen  at  brow  and  temples,  was  a  face  which 
had  known  suffering.  He  saw  that  she 
kept  glancing  at  him.  After  awhile  she 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  93 

approached    and    said,    somewhat    nerv- 
ously— 

"Ivan  Daviditch,  about  this  mine;  of 
course  it  is  a  good  thing  to  see  the  work  go- 
ing on,  but — I  am  not  sure  that,  under  the 
circumstances,  Yelaina  Grigorovna  is  wise 
in  undertaking  it." 

She  was  so  nervous  and  hesitating  in 
saying  this,  that  to  give  her  time  Jonathan 
rose  and  brought  her  a  chair  before  reply- 
ing. 

"In  what  way  unwise?" 

"It  is  difficult  to  say,  but — you  know  the 
reason  of  her  stay  here  at  Mardova?"  He 
nodded.  "Well,  I  think  it  would  have 
been  wiser  for  her  not  to  have  begun  the 
work  at  present.  You  know,  Andrea 
Andreaitch  does  not  like  it!" 

"But  has  Andrea  Andreaitch  anything 
to  do  with  it?" 

"Ivan  Daviditch,  I  told  you  just  now 
that  I  have  lived  all  my  life  here — I  have 
known  three  lords  of  Mardova — and  I 
know  that  what  Andrea  Andreaitch  does 


94  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

not  like  is  sure  sooner  or  later  to  bring 
trouble.  He  is  a  strange  man !" 

"Do  you  mean  that  it  would  be  better 
not  to  proceed  with  the  work,  then?" 

"I  dare  not  say  that,"  returned  Varvara 
anxiously. 

"Besides,"  continued  Jonathan,  "Ye- 
laina  Grigorovna  would  hardly  be  likely 
to  consent  to  that,  would  she?" 

"No,  no — perhaps  I  am  only  foolish!" 

"I  do  not  think  you  are  foolish,  Varvara 
Stepanovna,"  returned  he.  "You  are 
anxious,  and,  I  am  sure,  have  some  reason 
for  what  you  say.  I,  too,  would  do  any- 
thing to  keep  harm  from  Yelaina  Grigo- 
rovna; and  if  there  is  danger  in  this  busi- 
ness I  would  even  advise  her  against  go- 
ing on  with  it." 

"I  fear  it  is  too  late  for  that,"  returned 
Varvara.  "Besides,  I  am  only  house- 
keeper here — and  I  may  be  all  wrong  in 
what  I  fear."  Then  as  the  approach  of 
the  others  could  be  heard  through  the 
trees,  she  said  hurriedly:  "At  any  rate, 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  95 

Ivan  Daviditch,  always  remember  that 
Andrea  Andreaitch  does  not  like  this  work 
going  on." 

The  comers  were  Yelaina  and  Marya 
Ivanovna,  and  Jonathan  thought  he  had 
never  seen  the  former  look  sweeter  than  as 
she  entered  the  clearing  and  came  glowing 
up  to  him  to  inquire  about  his  sport.  Al- 
ways a  lover  of  pretty  frocks,  she  had  not 
discarded  one  to-day,  but  had  largely  cov- 
ered up  the  pretty  thing  by  one  of  Var- 
vara's  big  linen  aprons,  while  loose  linen 
sleeves  protected  her  arms.  Her  finger- 
tips were  sticky,  she  said,  so  she  could  not 
shake  hands.  However,  soap  and  water 
were  produced,  and  the  linen  sleeves  being 
drawn  off,  they  sat  down  to  await  the 
others. 

Marya  Ivanovna,  having  greeted  Jona- 
than with  something  of  a  scowl  and  cast  a 
hurried  glance  over  the  table  to  assure  her- 
self of  what  the  luncheon  consisted,  sat 
breathing  heavily  from  out  her  stoutness, 
thoroughly  exhausted  with  her  morning's 


96  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

work.  Marya  Ivanovna  liked  being  asked 
to  the  annual  blackberry  gathering,  for 
besides  the  share  of  fruit  which  went  to 
her,  it  was  something  that  the  people  saw 
her  on  friendly  terms  at  the  Big  House 
and  invited  to  sit  at  the  same  table. 

Then  Anna  Andreaovna  and  Herr 
Julius  appeared,  with  the  servants  in  a 
chattering  group  behind;  Herr  Julius, 
who  really  disliked  bodily  exertion  of  any 
kind  in  hot  weather,  carrying  a  large 
basket  of  fruit. 

"Yelaina  Grigorovna,"  he  exclaimed, 
mopping  his  face  as  he  took  his  place  at 
table,  "dese  expeditions  are  delightful — 
arcadian — but,  ach,  der  day  is  hot  1" 

"Not  too  hot,  I  hope,"  answered  Ye- 
laina, smiling.  "This  weather  is  delight- 
ful— I  like  it  hot  enough  to  grumble 
about." 

"Den  I  will  not  say  it  is  too  hot,"  re- 
plied Herr  Julius,  bowing.  "It  is  ever 
goot  in  der  woods !" 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  97 

"Save  when  claitchee  l  attempt  to  eat 
one,"  said  Anna  Andreaovna  demurely. 

"Und  even  so!  Der  claitch  he  must 
eat,  same  as  mens,"  said  Herr  Julius  sen- 
tentiously. 

"Though,"  returned  Anna,  "you  took 
that  one  from  my  wrist  very  quickly." 

"Oh,  you  are  more  fortunate  than  I," 
put  in  Yelaina,  smiling.  "I  felt  one  in 
my  shoulder,  and  though  Marya  Ivanovna 
blew  on  it  for  about  half-an-hour,  it  is 
there  still!" 

"Perhaps  you  haf  not  used  a  blow- tube? 
A  straw  makes  an  excellent  blow-tube,'* 
said  Herr  Julius. 

"No,  we  had  not  a  tube,"  answered  Ye- 
laina. 

"Den  let  me  try  mit  a  tube,"  said  he, 
rising. 

"No,  please  no,  Herr  Kamff,"  ex- 
claimed Yelaina,  "I  hardly  feel  it — it 
will  do  no  harm  for  awhile." 

i  A  flesh-boring  insect.    It  may  be  removed  by  blowing 
upon  it;  otherwise  a  knife  has  to  be  used. 


98  THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Why  not  let  him  try,"  said  Jonathan. 
"It  is  not  well  to  leave  them  too  long." 

"No,  but  Varvara  will  get  it  cut  when 
we  return,"  she  answered  quietly,  smiling. 
"Ah,  here  is  Andrea  Andreaitch!"  as  the 
latter  drove  into  the  clearing  in  the  smart 
little  platyonka  which  he  used  on  his 
rounds. 

Andreaitch,  with  heels  together,  bowed 
low  over  Yelaina's  hand,  and  with  another 
smiling  bow  for  the  rest  of  the  party,  took 
his  seat  at  table.  He  had  already  eaten, 
he  said,  but  would  take  a  glass  of  tea.  He 
took  four,  and  drank  them  in  a  curious 
manner — sweetening  each  gulp  separately 
by  fixing  a  piece  of  sugar  between  his 
front  teeth  and  drawing  in  his  tea  through 
it ;  when  the  piece  became  too  friable  it  was 
crunched  up  and  swallowed,  and  another 
supply  was  bitten  from  the  lump  by  the 
side  of  his  glass.  While  he  drank  he  said 
little,  but  listened  to  the  conversation. 

Herr  Julius,  inspired  by  Jonathan's 
bag,  was  explaining  to  Varvara  Stepa- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT  99 

novna  a  particular  way  of  cooking  snipe. 

"Snipe,"  said  Herr  Julius,  "is  of  all 
birds  der  most  delicate,  and  his  cookery 
should  be  equally  delicate." 

"You  shall  have  some  cooked  in  that 
way  to-night — may  he  not,  Varvara 
Stepanovna?"  interrupted  Yelaina,  who 
had  been  listening  to  a  conversation  be- 
tween Jonathan  and  Anna  Andreaovna. 

"Den,  if  you  will  allow,  I  will  show  der 
cook  myself,"  replied  Herr  Julius  gravely. 

"It  is  difficult  to  say  how  much,  but  cer- 
tainly many  millions  of  poods,"  Jonathan 
was  saying.  "The  seam  extends  in  this 
direction,  perhaps  even  beneath  our  feet 
— and  might,  quite  likely,  show  itself 
somewhere  on  the  slope  to  the  steppe." 

"That's  just  what  it  does  do,"  said  An- 
dreaitch. 

"Of  course  it  does,"  exclaimed  Yelaina. 
"I  remember  now  once  having  seen  it — it 
surely  is  not  far  from  where  we  were  this 
morning!" 

"It  is  in  that  direction,"  replied  Andrea- 


100          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

itch.  "I  should  think  about  a  verst  from 
here — all  overgrown  with  brambles,  and  if 
I  remember  aright  there  are  signs  of  its 
once  having  been  worked." 

This  was  so  interesting  that  it  was  de- 
cided to  search  for  the  spot  after  luncheon ; 
and  Andreaitch,  after  more  directions 
about  finding  the  place,  took  his  leave, 
saying  to  Yelaina — 

"I  hope  your  news  of  Paul  Alexan- 
dritch  is  good — that  he  is  quite  well?" 

"Quite  well,  I  believe,"  she  answered 
quietly. 

The  servants  had  already  gone  off  to  the 
woods;  Marya  Ivanovna  said  she  pre- 
ferred to  stay  and  help  Varvara  Stepa- 
novna  pack  the  dishes,  so  Yelaina  and 
Anna  Andreaovna,  with  Jonathan  and 
Herr  Julius,  went  in  quest  of  the  copper 
outcrop. 

Yelaina  felt  sure  that  the  spot  lay  to  the 
right  of  the  track ;  however,  when  once  this 
was  lost  sight  of,  the  slope  of  the  ground 
was  their  only  guide  as  to  direction,  and 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         101 

they  soon  discovered  that  there  are  easier 
things  than  to  find  a  given  spot  in  an  al- 
most trackless  wood.  After  an  hour's 
search  and  many  consultations,  Herr 
Julius  said  he  found  blackberry-gathering 
easier  work  than  exploration,  and,  the 
bushes  being  laden  down  with  clustered 
fruit,  lingered  with  Anna  Andreaovna  to 
fill  the  single  basket  they  had  brought; 
while  Yelaina  said  they  must  only  go  a 
very  little  way  further  and  then  give  up 
the  search. 

Soon,  however,  the  ground  became  more 
rugged,  great  pieces  of  rock  and  boulders 
showing  through  the  undergrowth;  and 
presently  Yelaina  said  she  recognized  the 
place.  They  had  come  upon  a  bit  of  level 
ground,  and,  just  where  the  slope  gave  to 
the  plateau,  a  mass  of  blue-crusted  rock 
showed  through  the  tangle,  while  a  little 
further  on  a  solid  mass  of  the  same  pro- 
jected like  a  buttress  from  the  slope. 
After  a  brief  examination,  which  showed 
no  signs  of  the  place  ever  having  been 


102         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

worked,  they  were  passing  round  to  the  op- 
posite side  when,  seizing  Yelaina,  who  was 
leading,  Jonathan  hastily  swung  her  be- 
hind him,  as,  with  a  growl,  a  mass  of 
shaggy,  mangy-looking  hair,  within  a  few 
feet  of  where  she  had  been  standing, 
reared  itself  up  into  a  bear  with  pig- 
shaped  snout  and  muzzle  matted  red  with 
the  juice  of  berries  upon  which  it  had  been 
feeding.  He  knew  what  to  expect;  not 
the  terrible  hug  spoken  of  in  books,  but 
one  fierce,  swift  stroke  of  the  paw  which 
would  bring  the  back  of  the  skull  and  the 
scalp  a  curtain  of  crushed  bone  and  rib- 
bon over  the  eyes  and  chest.  The  one 
chance  now,  to  await  and,  if  possible,  evade 
the  stroke,  then  rush  in  and  dig  down 
through  the  thick  hair  upon  the  muscular 
throat  and  squeeze  and  throttle  till  one's 
own  or  the  brute's  life  gave  out.  With- 
out moving  his  eyes  from  the  swaying  mass 
of  fur,  he  said  in  a  tense  voice — 

"When  I  close  with  the  brute — run !" 

There  was  no  answer. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         103 

The  hooked  claws  were  waving  within 
three  feet  of  his  face,  not  outspread  as  if 
eager  for  the  stroke,  but  close  touching  one 
another  in  a  helpless-looking  way,  the  sec- 
ond claw  over-hanging  and  in  front  of  the 
first. 

"You  must  run  as  soon  as  I  close — do 
you  hear?"  he  said  again;  and  again  there 
was  no  answer.  He  dared  not  turn  his 
head,  so  slipped  a  hand  behind  him  to  feel 
if  she  were  there;  and  a  hand  met  and 
closed  about  his  own  for  an  instant. 

Then  in  a  moment  it  was  over.  Keep- 
ing its  little,  pig-like  eyes  fixed  on  the  in- 
truders, the  animal  swayed  its  body  to  one 
side,  dropped  on  all-fours,  and  went  crash- 
ing through  the  brushwood. 

Yelaina  stood  pale,  her  breath  coming 
in  quick  short  pants. 

"You  must  sit  down  for  awhile,"  said 
he,  finding  a  seat  for  her  on  a  boulder 
from  which  he  tore  the  overgrowth. 

"Thank  you,"  she  said  tremulously,  "I 
think  I  must  have  been  very  frightened, 


104          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

though  I  did  not  know  it  at  the  time." 
"Why  did  you  not  answer  me?" 
"Because  I  would  not  have  obeyed  you." 
"You  mean  that  you  would  not  have 
run — that  you  would  have  stayed?" 

"I  have  heard  of  a  similar  case — in 
which  a  man's  life  was  saved  by  his  com- 
rade's getting  behind  the  bear  and  plung- 
ing his  fingers  into  its  eyes.  I  was  think- 
ing of  that." 

"Meaning  to  attempt  it?" 
"I  should  have  attempted  it — yes." 
"Yelaina  Grigorovna,  you — you  would 
have  been  very  foolish!"  said  Jonathan 
gently. 

"Now  let  us  get  away  from  this  dread- 
ful place,"  she  said  quickly. 

He  assisted  her  to  rise,  but  as  he  touched 
her  arm  she  gave  a  little  cry  of  pain  and 
stood  with  lips  pressed  together,  while  a 
swallowing  movement  of  the  throat 
showed  the  effort  to  keep  back  further 
sounds. 

"What  is  it?"  he  asked. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         105 

"My  arm — it  is  stiff  and — and  painful. 
I  am  afraid  it  is  the  claitch!" 

"You  must  have  it  out.  This  is  only 
the  beginning,  the  arm  will  soon  be  par- 
alyzed if  the  thing  is  allowed  to  remain. 
Let  me  try  to  remove  it." 

He  cut  a  stout,  reed-like  grass  for  a 
tube,  while  she  slowly  undid  the  collar  of 
her  dress.  On  the  point  of  the  shoulder 
was  a  round  red  patch  with,  in  its  center, 
a  darker  spot  where  the  insect  had  entered. 

"If  necessary,  cut  it  out,"  she  said. 

"If  necessary,  yes,"  he  answered. 
"But  we  will  first  try  what  blowing  will 
do." 

Directing  her  to  grasp  her  elbow  as  a 
support  for  her  arm,  he  began  his  blowing, 
resting  his  hand  upon  her  shoulder  to 
steady  the  tube.  Five  minutes  passed. 
Then  she  said — 

"Ivan  Daviditch,  would  you  mind  not 
saying  anything  about  the  bear  when  we 
get  back?  It  would  only  alarm  them." 

"Certainly  not,  if  you  wish  it,"  replied 


106         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

he,  pausing  for  a  moment  in  the  blowing. 

"I  think  I  do — I  cannot  quite  explain 
why;  it  is  perhaps  like  the  reluctance  one 
would  feel  in  speaking  of  an  answered 
prayer;  during  those  few  moments  I 
prayed  very  earnestly  in  my  heart." 

"I  think  I  understand,"  he  said,  without 
raising  his  head. 

Another  five  minutes  and  the  clcdtch  be- 
gan to  move ;  a  minute  more  it  was  so  near 
the  surface  that  he  was  able  to  jerk  it 
clear. 

She  had  been  holding  her  handkerchief 
clenched  in  her  hand.  He  took  it  and 
dabbled  it  in  the  water  which  trickled  over 
the  rock. 

"This  coppery  water  will  act  as  an  anti- 
septic as  well  as  cooling  the  place,"  he 
said,  folding  the  handkerchief  into  a  pad 
for  her  shoulder. 

"Thank  you  so  much,"  she  said  grate- 
fully. "Now  let  us  get  away  from  this 
place." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         107 

According  to  the  law  of  retribution  the 
snipe  ought  not  to  have  been  the  success 
they  were  that  evening,  for,  Herr  Julius 
being  inexorable  as  to  detail,  they  had  been 
cooked  under  the  strain  of  much  inward 
blasphemy  on  the  part  of  the  cook.  But 
at  the  early  lamp-lit  supper,  Herr  Julius, 
though  flushed  with  delight,  pooh-poohed 
his  laurels  on  the  ground  that  chemistry 
and  cookery  are  closely  allied.  Jonathan 
was  brilliant;  whatever  subject  came  up 
his  brain  saw  in  some  new  and  unexpected 
light;  and  jest  and  paradox  and  a  hundred 
subtle  flashes  raced  from  his  lips,  while  be- 
hind the  hundred  flashes  a  hundred  devils 
wandered  round  his  heart.  The  others 
caught  his  mood ;  all  had  something  to  say 
and  said  it  well ;  so  that  when  a  lull  came  as 
they  rose  from  the  table,  the  merriment 
accentuated  the  silence  and  made  them 
wonder  what  all  the  merriment  had  been 
about. 

Varvara  Stepanovna,  who  alone  had  not 


108          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

been  infected  with  the  mood,  departed 
upon  some  duty,  and  Jonathan  remained 
behind  to  finish  a  cigar.  When  he  entered 
the  salle  Herr  Julius  was  at  the  piano; 
Anna  Andreaovna  had  been  called  away, 
and  Yelaina  sat  beyond  the  big  lamp  over 
some  needlework.  She  greeted  him  with 
a  smile  as  he  took  Anna's  vacant  chair. 
A  post  had  come  in  while  they  were  at  sup- 
per, and  among  the  letters  was  one  from  a 
smelting  firm  proposing  a  contract  for  ore 
over  the  following  year. 

"Arrange  it  as  you  think  best,"  she  said, 
as  he  mentioned  it  to  her;  "it  is  for  you  to 
decide." 

"I  think  it  should  be  accepted ;  but  I  feel 
it  is  not  quite  for  me  to  decide,"  he  replied. 
"This  concerns  next  year's  ore — and,  you 
see,  in  about  a  fortnight's  time  I  shall 
be  going!  All  will  be  in  order  then,  I 
hope." 

"In  a  fortnight's  time!"  she  said,  stop- 
ping her  work  in  surprise.  "Why?  I 
thought  you  would  stay  till  the  winter !" 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         109 

"I  am  sorry  I  cannot  do  that,"  he  an- 
swered. 

"And  however  will  things  go  on  without 
you!" 

"There  is  Herr  Kamff !" 

"Yes,  I  hope  Herr  Kamff  will  stay — 
but  will  he  be  able  to  manage  ?" 

"Perfectly,  so  far  as  the  technical  work 
is  concerned — I  am  perhaps  not  so  sure  of 
the  business  side — but  if  this  contract  be 
accepted  there  will  be  little  of  that  to  do." 

"Then  it  must  be  accepted,"  she  an- 
swered. "But — what  a  terrible  responsi- 
bility it  will  seem  when  you  are  gone !" 

He  made  no  answer.  Then  resuming 
her  needle  she  said — 

"I  suppose  you  could  not  stay  a  little 
longer? — the  rivers  are  open  till  the  end  of 
October;  you  could  leave  by  the  last  boat." 

"I  cannot!"  he  replied,  so  hotly  that  she 
turned  quickly  to  look  at  him. 

The  exaltation  of  the  long  day  spent  in 
her  presence  was  upon  him,  and  after  a 
pause  he  went  on — 


110         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Yelaina  Grigorovna — I  will  tell  you 
why  I  must  go — it  is  because  each  moment 
longer  that  I  stay  makes  more  absolute  the 
fact  that  every  part  of  my  being  centers  in 
yourself,  longs  for  you — starves  for  you. 
It  is  all  horribly  and  conventionally  wrong 
to  say  this — though  ethically  it  may  not  be 
such  a  crime — at  any  rate,  it  is  true." 

She  rose  from  her  seat,  with  shrinking 
eyes.  "Oh,  don't — please  don't!"  she 
said,  and  hurriedly  left  the  room. 

As  he  heard  the  door  closed  he  also  rose 
and  went  over  to  the  piano. 

"Are  you  ready?"  he  said,  putting  his 
hand  on  Herr  Julius'  shoulder.  Herr 
Julius  looked  up,  and  after  a  glance  round 
the  room,  closed  the  piano. 

"Yes,  I  am  ready — let  us  go,"  said  he. 

Long  after  the  household  was  asleep 
that  night  Yelaina,  though  prepared  for 
bed,  was  restlessly  awake  and  slowly  pac- 
ing her  room.  After  awhile  she  took  a 
candle  from  the  dressing-table  and  went 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         111 

out  into  the  corridor  and  on  to  the  salle. 
Placing  the  candlestick  on  a  small  table 
just  within  the  door,  she  made  her  way  to 
her  seat  of  a  few  hours  before.  She  sat 
there  without  moving  so  long  that  the 
candle  burnt  out  and  left  the  room  in  dark- 
ness, save  for  the  feeble  glimmer  of  the 
tiny  lamp  hanging  before  the  icon  high  up 
in  the  opposite  corner.  As  this  light  came 
into  prominence  with  the  dying  out  of  the 
candle,  she  rose  and  stood  before  it  with 
hands  clasped  loosely  in  front  of  her;  and 
the  light  which  illumined  the  tender  face 
within  the  shrine  fell  dimly  upon  her  own 
upturned  face  and  on  the  rippling  fall  of 
her  hair.  To  Yelaina  had  come  her 
temptation  in  the  wilderness. 


IX 

A  DREARY  week  of  almost  ceaseless 
rain  followed,  during  which  Jona- 
than worked  hard  at  getting  things  into 
order.  The  little  wharf  which  he  had 
planned  at  the  river  was  at  length  finished 
and  ready  for  use  next  year;  and  from  it 
one  morning  he  watched  the  first  cargo  of 
ore  steal  away  on  its  journey  south. 
Then,  as  the  two  lumbering  barges  were 
lost  behind  the  rain-dimmed  bend  of  the 
river,  he  turned  his  horse  for  home,  feeling 
that  now  he  was  free  to  go. 

There  were  still  many  details  which  he 
would  have  liked  to  attend  to,  but  these 
must  be  left  to  Herr  Julius  and  Peotra; 
and  as  he  watched  the  twitching  ears  and 
dripping  mane  of  his  horse  as  the  animal 
splashed  along  through  the  mud,  he  com- 
posed a  short  note  to  Yelaina  announcing 

his  departure  on  the  day  after  the  next. 
112 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         113 

As  he  passed  through  the  dining-room 
on  his  way  to  change  his  soaked  clothing, 
he  found  a  letter  addressed  to  himself  ly- 
ing on  the  table.  It  was  in  a  woman's 
writing,  and  could  be  only  from  her!  and 
as  he  opened  the  envelope  he  braced  him- 
self for  the  verbal  smite  which  he  felt  it 
\vould  contain.  It  was  written  in  English 
and,  without  preface,  began — 

"You  must  be  aware  that  your  words  of 
the  other  night  have  disturbed  me  greatly 
— for  I  do  not  wrong  you  by  thinking  that 
you  spoke  them  lightly.  I  wish  to  say 
something  to  you,  but  hardly  know  how  to 
say  it.  Perhaps  I  ought  to  rebuke  you, 
but  I  cannot.  If  your  words  were  wrong, 
the  wrong  is  half  my  own  and  I  cannot  re- 
gret them — perhaps,  even  among  the 
many  moods  which  a  woman  has,  some 
stray  hour  may  clothe  them  in  almost  ten- 
derness. It  is  something  which  has  been, 
something  which  has  broken  in  upon  the 
isolation  of  life,  but  something  which  must 


114         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

never  again  be  spoken  of.  To  do  so 
would  be  a  bitter  and  useless  degradation 
for  us  both  and  would  leave  you  for  ever 
dead  to  me.  Knowing  this,  is  it  impos- 
sible that  you  should  stay  to  finish  your 
work?  Do  not  write  to  me;  to-morrow 
morning  I  shall  be  at  church ;  if  I  see  you 
there  I  will  know  that  you  stay ;  if  not,  that 
you  leave  by  an  early  boat ;  in  either  case  I 
beg  you  to  remember  always  how  grateful 
I  am  for  what  you  have  done  here. 

"YELAINA  MARDOVA." 

After  reading  this  note  many  times,  and 
still  holding  it  in  his  hand,  he  went  on  to 
his  room;  mechanically  changed  into  dry 
garments;  stood  for  awhile  gazing  from 
the  window,  and  then  sank  into  a  chair  and 
desperately  buried  his  face  in  his  hands. 

The  rain  had  passed  away  next  morn- 
ing as  he  walked  over  to  Sonika,  and  the 
pools  of  last  night's  rain  were  sheets  of 
glittering  ice  in  the  yellow  sunlight;  the 
dead  leaves  under  foot  curled  and  white 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         115 

with  frost;  the  white-washed  walls  and 
green-painted  domes  of  the  church  as  he 
approached  it  set  against  a  deep  blue  sky. 
Pushing  open  the  great  padded  door — a 
shaft  of  mist  preceding  him  as  the  frosty 
air  without  cut  into  the  heated  air  within 
— he  moved  quietly  up  the  church  and 
stood  in  the  rear  of  the  group  of  wor- 
shipers— mostly  peasants,  the  smell  of 
whose  garments  mingled  heavily  with  the 
odor  of  half-extinguished  tapers  and  the 
faint  smell  of  incense.  But  he  knew  she 
was  there,  for  her  carriage  waited  outside. 
Then  he  saw  her  higher  up  the  church  on 
one  side,  kneeling  and  almost  hidden  by  a 
group  of  peasants.  The  deep  voice  of 
the  priest  filled  the  church;  the  shrine- 
hung  walls  held  their  mystery;  and,  the 
spirit  of  prayer  in  his  heart,  Jonathan 
knelt  with  bowed  head. 

He  was  the  first  to  leave  when  the  serv- 
ice was  over,  and  stood  by  her  carriage 
waiting  for  her  coming,  for  he  fancied  that 
she  had  not  seen  him.  Ivan,  the  coach- 


116         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

man,  looked  at  the  sky  and  thought  there 
would  be  some  good  frosts  now,  the  geese 
had  been  noisy  and  flying  much  of  late  and 
that  always  meant  frost,  he  knew.  The 
pair  of  blacks  pranced  as  they  sniffed  the 
keen  air.  "Father  and  son,"  said  Ivan, 
pointing  to  them  with  the  whip  slung  from 
his  wrist.  He  had  broken  the  young  one 
in  himself — was  he  not  a  beauty?  Jona- 
than smoothed  the  firm  black  legs  and 
slapped  the  shining  shoulders  that  quiv- 
ered into  little  ridges  at  his  touch. 

At  length,  almost  the  last,  she  came,  her 
breath  showing  in  the  frosty  sunlight  as 
fleeting  wisps  of  silver  mist.  She  had 
seen  him  in  the  church,  she  said.  What  a 
lovely  morning!  Might  she  drive  him 
back?  But  Jonathan,  thanking  her,  said 
he  would  walk ;  so  having  watched  the  car- 
riage depart  down  the  village  street — the 
peasants  standing  bare-headed  as  it  passed 
— he  followed  on  foot. 

The  holiday  faces  and  garments  of  the 
peasants  as  they  stood  about  in  groups 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         117 

gave  the  street  quite  a  cheery  appearance, 
and  as  many  of  them  worked  in  the  mine, 
Jonathan  stopped  for  a  word  with  them 
as  he  passed.  There  was,  he  thought, 
something  very  lovable  about  these  simple 
people  who,  in  spite  of  years  of  poverty, 
suffering  and  sameness,  could  be  so  happy 
and  light-hearted.  The  whole  village 
rang  with  their  holiday  laughter,  happi- 
ness for  the  time  was  theirs;  a  pocketful 
of  black  sunflower  seeds  bought  for  a 
single  kopeck  formed  their  holiday  feast! 
Leaving  the  village  he  turned  out  of 
the  direct  path  and  lingered  to  watch  the 
movements  of  a  jack-hare  that  had  stolen 
from  the  forest  into  a  field  of  autumn- 
sown  grain.  He  saw  that  the  creature's 
summer  coat  of  russet  had  almost  changed 
to  its  winter  white — a  sure  sign  that  win- 
ter was  near.  As  for  that  field  of  fresh 
young  green,  he  could  almost  envy  it,  for 
it  would  see  the  spring  at  Mardova!  At 
Kirkthorp  the  sea  would  be  sounding  in 
through  the  open  windows  of  the  Vicar- 


118          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

age,  the  day  just  beginning,  Uncle  Phin- 
eas  and  Ressy  perhaps  at  breakfast;  and 
a  grateful  feeling  of  rest  came  with  the 
thought  of  the  English  Vicarage. 

As  he  drew  near  Mardova  and  came 
down  the  slope  of  the  ravine,  the  House, 
beyond  the  opposite  bank,  came  into  full 
view.  Though  it  was  a  good  half-verst 
away  the  clear  air  allowed  things  to  be 
seen  very  distinctly,  and  he  stopped  sud- 
denly to  steady  his  gaze,  for  on  the  lawn 
before  the  house  was  a  great  mass  of  peas- 
ants, while  on  the  steps  of  the  main  en- 
trance stood  Yelaina  dressed  just  as  she 
had  been  at  church — in  a  dress  and  coat  of 
green  edged  with  sable  and  with  a  hat  of 
the  same  fur.  She  was  bending  forward, 
evidently  speaking  to  the  people;  then 
while  he  gazed  Varvara  Stepanovna  came 
quickly  from  out  the  doorway,  took  her  by 
the  arm  and  led,  almost  dragged  her,  he 
thought,  back  into  the  hall  and  closed  the 
door. 

Leaving  the  zigzag  path  he  took  a  di- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         119 

rect  line  down  the  slope  and  hurried  to- 
wards the  house.  Though  his  thoughts 
were  uneasily  occupied  with  what  he  had 
just  seen,  he  was  not  too  absorbed  to  no- 
tice as  a  curious  circumstance  that  a  peas- 
ant whom  he  met  coming  down  the  oppo- 
site hill  should  bear  about  with  him  the 
dainty  odor  of  a  scent  which  had  been 
fashionable  in  Petersburg  a  couple  of 
years  before. 


X 

WHAT  had  happened  was  this. 
Upon  driving  into  the  court- 
yard on  her  return  from  church,  Yelaina 
had  found  Andrea  Andreaitch  awaiting 
her.  He  had  come,  he  said,  to  report  that 
for  the  past  few  days  there  had  been  con- 
siderable excitement  among  the  peasants 
owing  to  a  rumor  having  got  about  that 
the  mine  was  to  be  closed,  and  that  they 
were  now  coming  to  her  in  a  body  to  ask 
that  the  work  might  still  go  on. 

"But  I  do  not  wish  to  see  them,"  said 
Yelaina.  "Tell  them  that  the  mine  will 
not  be  closed;  that  there  will  be  work  for 
them  all  through  the  winter." 

"I  have  told  them  that,"  answered  An- 
dreaitch, "but  it  is  no  use,  they  have  got 
the  idea  into  their  heads — you  had  better 
see  them,  Yelaina  Grigorovna.  A  word 

from  you  will  quieten  them." 
120 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         121 

"Well — let  them  come,  then,"  she  said. 

So  with  a  low  bow  Andreaitch  departed, 
and  Yelaina  sauntered  into  the  great 
stable-sheds,  where,  it  being  a  holiday, 
long  lines  of  horses,  some  two  hundred  or 
more,  were  luxuriantly  munching  and 
stamping.  Fanassi,  the  horsekeeper,  ob- 
sequiously followed  her  between  the  rows 
of  whisking  tails,  while  round-eyed  help- 
ers watched  them  from  a  distance.  The 
lazy  holiday  air  and  content  of  the  horses 
gave  her  a  feeling  of  happiness  and 
soothed  the  slight  irritation  which  Andre- 
aitch's  visit  had  caused.  Returning  to 
the  house  she  met  Varvara  Stepanovna  at 
the  foot  of  the  great  stairs  and  told  her 
of  the  coming  deputation.  Varvara 
looked  troubled. 

"Do  not  see  them,  Yelaina  Grigor- 
ovna,"  she  said.  "There  is  no  need  for 
it!  Please,  Yelaina  Grigorovna,  do  not 
see  them." 

"Oh,  I  will  see  them,"  Yelaina  an- 
swered. "A  few  words  will  reassure 


122          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

them."  Then,  by  an  impulse,  she  kissed 
the  old  woman  and  went  her  way  upstairs, 
idly  swinging  her  gloves. 

Liza  was  awaiting  her  mistress  with 
round-eyed  wonder. 

"Bozhi  raoz,1  what  is  this,  Yelaina  Gri- 
gorovna?  See!"  she  cried,  pointing  from 
the  window.  And  Yelaina,  looking,  saw 
that  the  peasants  had  already  arrived  and 
were  congregated,  a  great  gray  mass,  on 
the  lawn  beneath;  so  without  waiting  for 
Liza's  offices,  she  descended  to  the  main 
corridor  and  passed  out  to  the  stone  steps 
in  front  of  the  house  facing  the  crowd. 

Two  hundred  upturned  faces  con- 
fronted her,  for  not  only  the  immediate 
workmen  at  the  mine  were  there  but  many 
others  had  come  to  show  themselves  and 
add  the  encouragement  of  their  presence; 
and  her  flower-beds  which  she  had  such 
pleasure  in  making  in  the  spring  were  hid- 
den beneath  trampling  feet  and  the  last  of 
the  flowers  broken  and  crushed. 

God! 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         123 

Dull  ignorance,  poverty,  dirt  and  dis- 
ease was  on  most  of  the  upturned  faces; 
that  smallpox  was  common  and  virulent 
amongst  them  was  shown  by  the  number 
of  leaden-hued  and  pitted  features ;  as  the 
frequency  of  the  bridgeless  nose  and 
pointed  teeth  set  wide  apart  told  of  gen- 
erations of  immorality.  Among  them  all 
there  was  not  more  than  a  dozen  with  signs 
of  ruddy  health,  and  even  fewer  had  faces 
of  real  intelligence.  A  curious  faint  odor 
coming  in  wafts  from  them  was  increased 
by  their  movements.  On  Yelaina's  ap- 
pearance their  chatter  was  immediately 
hushed ;  while  those  in  front  fell  upon  their 
knees,  some  even  with  their  faces  to  the 
ground. 

"Get  up  from  your  knees!"  she  com- 
manded, "I  will  not  listen  to  you  sol 
Why  should  you  kneel  to  me  ?" 

The  kneelers  paused  a  moment,  then, 
cap  in  hand,  sheepishly  arose,  looking 
from  one  to  the  other.  Another  pause, 
and  Simion  Gavreelitch,  who  had  been 


124         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

doing  blacksmith  work  at  the  mine,  took  a 
hesitating  step  forward  and  after  a  nerv- 
ous glance  to  right  and  left,  began  in  a 
quivering  monotone  to  deliver  the  petition. 
"Barinya,  we  have  come  to  you  because 
we  hear  you  are  soon  to  leave  us — and  we 
are  afraid,  and  do  not  know  what  will  be 
with  us.  For  it  is  good  when  you  are  here, 
and,  Little  Mother,  the  bread  you  give 
us  is  good  bread,  but  though  our  Little 
Father  *  loves  us  and  gives  us  gifts,  and 
his  bread  we  hear  is  good  bread,  it  comes 
through  many  hands,  and  his  corn  when  it 
reaches  us  is  not  corn  but  sand  and  stones, 
and  we  cannot  make  it  into  bread! — and 
the  winter  is  near  and  the  land  will  not 
feed  us  though  it  costs  us  dear.  So, 
Barinya,  do  not  close  the  mine,  or  please, 
if  it  wearies  you,  leave  us  to  work  it  for 
ourselves.  We  will  elect  a  council,  with 
Peotra  Nikoolin  as  head ;  so  we  shall  have 
work  to  do  and  bread  to  eat!  Please! 
We  pray  you,  Barinya!" 

i  Tsar. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         125 

He  finished,  again  looked  round  for 
approval,  furtively  scratched  his  brow, 
and  fell  back  to  his  place.  There  was  no 
applause ;  but  the  feeling  seemed  to  be  that 
he  had  spoken  well. 

For  awhile  Yelaina  made  no  reply. 
The  pathos,  the  almost  tragedy  of  this 
groping  sample  of  her  country's  gray  mil- 
lions was  working  within  her.  She  took 
her  handkerchief  from  her  muff  and 
pressed  it  to  her  lips.  By  the  open  gate, 
through  which  the  people  had  come,  An- 
dreaitch  was  standing;  beyond  him,  in  the 
outer  garden,  was  an  individual,  a 
stranger  to  her,  who  from  his  dress  evi- 
dently belonged  to  the  better  class  of  peas- 
ants or  the  humble  merchant  class.  Near 
the  front  of  the  crowd  stood  a  tall  lean 
peasant  holding  in  his  arms,  shoulder  high, 
a  child  of  about  six  or  seven  with  a  small 
pinched  face  and  scarred  sightless  eyes. 
The  little  fellow,  groping  about  for  some- 
thing to  lay  hold  of,  had  lighted  on  its 
father's  ear,  the  great  lobe  of  which  he  had 


126          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

clutched  in  his  small  right  hand,  while  in 
the  other  he  held  the  midrib  of  a  raw  cab- 
bage-leaf, which  from  time  to  time  he 
gnawed  and  sucked  at.  Yelaina  mo- 
tioned the  father  to  her,  and,  taking  the 
child  from  his  arms,  pityingly  stroked  the 
small  face.  She  asked  the  cause  of  its 
blindness,  its  name  and  age,  while  her  face 
flushed  with  pity  as  she  bent  over  the 
shrunken  little  thing.  The  assemblage, 
however,  waiting  for  her  to  speak,  began 
to  sway  uneasily,  so,  her  heart  quieter  now, 
she  gave  the  child  back  to  its  father,  and 
raising  her  head  addressed  the  people. 
She  spoke  of  them  as  her  "brothers,"  and 
used  the  simplest  words;  but  while  her 
voice  was  clear  and  modulated  so  that  all 
might  hear,  there  was  an  under  quiver  of 
excitement  in  it.  She  told  them  to  put 
their  minds  at  rest ;  that  though  she  might 
go  from  them  the  mine  would  not  be 
closed;  that  she  hoped  next  year  there 
would  be  work  for  double  their  present 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         127 

number.  Though  she  wished  to  help 
them  she  also  wished  them  to  help  them- 
selves, and  not  spend  so  much  at  the 
kabak.1  "For  it  is  not  right  that  you 
should  ever  go  hungry  and  see  your  chil- 
dren starve,"  she  said  earnestly,  "for  you, 
my  brothers,  are  the  strength  and  life  and 
hope  of  Russia,  and  she  is  proud  of  you, 
even  though  at  times  she  forgets.  What- 
ever our  country  may  be  in  the  future  can 
come  only  from  you — never  forget  that! 
And  though  you  suffer — no,  I  will  not  say 
be  patient,  for  you  are  patient — I  will  say, 
in  your  suffering  help  one  another,  help 
those  who  are  poorer  even  than  yourselves, 
and  remember  always  that  our  Most  High 
Emperor  loves  you  and  is  sad  when  you 
are  hungry.  As  for  those  who  steal  your 
bread — they  are  murderers,  and  must 
surely  be  scourged  from  the  land!" 

It  was  at  this  moment  that  Varvara 
Stepanovna,  who  had  been  watching  from 

i  Vodka  shop. 


128          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

the  doorway,  moved  quickly  out,  seized 
Yelaina  by  the  arm,  and  whispering  hur- 
riedly in  a  terrified  voice — 

"Yelaina  Grigorovna,  say  no  more — my 
little  pigeon,  say  no  more!"  dragged  her 
within  the  doorway  and  forced  her  down 
upon  a  mat-covered  chest  which  stood  at 
one  side  of  the  hall.  And  before  Yelaina, 
who  was  pale  and  trembling,  could  recover 
herself,  she  was  out  on  the  steps  again 
facing  the  crowd  with  the  door  held  closed 
behind  her. 

"Your  mistress  is  not  well  to-day,"  she 
said,  straining  her  voice  till  its  thin  notes 
broke,  "but  she  assures  you  again  that  the 
mine  will  not  be  closed,  and  now  asks  you 
all,  please,  to  go  quietly  away!" 

With  cap  awry  and  her  gray  hair  disor- 
dered she  waited  till  the  people  began  to 
move  before  she  left  the  steps;  then  find- 
ing that  Yelaina  had  gone  up  to  her  room 
with  Anna  Andreaovna,  she  followed,  and 
falling  on  her  knees  distressfully  took  her 
hands  in  her  own. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         129 

"Yelaina  Grigorovna — Yelaina  Gri- 
gorovna,"  she  cried,  "why  did  you  speak 
to  them — oh,  why  did  you  speak  to  them? 
God  knows  what  will  come  of  this  day !" 

Yelaina,  however,  smiled  at  her  fears. 
The  peasants  had  come  to  ask  about  the 
mine  and  she  had  reassured  them — that 
was  all;  what  harm  could  there  be  in 
speaking  to  their  own  people?  And  she 
fell  to  soothing  and  petting  the  old 
woman. 

By  this  time  Jonathan  had  got  up  to  the 
house,  and  finding  no  one  below  who  could 
tell  him  anything,  had  made  his  way  to 
the  salle,  where  Anna  Andreaovna,  hear- 
ing his  footsteps,  came  to  him  and  told  him 
what  had  occurred,  and  of  Yelaina's 
words. 

"And  you  say  that  your  mother  is 
alarmed  and  distressed  at  this?"  said  he. 

"Indeed,  yes,  Ivan  Daviditch,  we  are 
all  afraid!"  answered  Anna  Andreaovna, 
who  was  pale  and  trembling. 

"Well — it  may  be,"  said  he  thought- 


130         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

fully.  "At  all  events  I  wish  I  had  been 
here  to  speak  to  them  myself." 

So  bidding  her  good-by,  he  went  slowly 
across  to  the  clearing,  where  he  found 
Herr  Julius,  in  spite  of  the  holiday,  busy 
at  work  in  the  laboratory.  But  Herr 
Julius  also  took  a  serious  view  of  the  mat- 
ter, and  with  grave  face  put  down  his  test- 
glass  and  slowly  lighted  a  cigarette  as  he 
listened. 

"And  I  have  an  uneasy  feeling,"  said 
Jonathan,  "that  that  fellow  Andreaitch  is 
somehow  mixed  up  in  this !" 

"Maybe,"  said  Herr  Julius. 

"Still,  the  words  seem  simple  and  inno- 
cent enough — at  least  they  would  be  so  in 
any  other  country,"  said  Jonathan. 

"Maybe,"  said  Herr  Julius  again. 

"Yes,  yes !"  exclaimed  Jonathan,  some- 
what impatiently;  "but  look  here,  you 
know  Russia  better  than  I  do,  do  you  see 
any  harm  in  them  ?" 

"I  would  giff,"  said  Herr  Julius,  "ten 
years  of  my  life  had  our  Yelaina  Grigor- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         131 

ovna  not  spoken  dem!  Andreaitch,  An- 
dreaitch,  I  fear  you  are  a  douple  deffil!" 

Meanwhile  Andreaitch  had  gone  down 
to  his  house  and  was  giving  a  close  account 
to  Marya  Ivanovna  of  all  that  had  oc- 
curred. 

"It  all  happened  as  it  should,"  said  he. 
"The  Administration  will  have  it  next 
week — then  we  shall  see!" 

"Slava  Bogo!"  1  said  Marya  Ivanovna. 

i  Glory  be  to  God. 


XI 

MEANWHILE  the  light  frost 
held,  and  bird  and  beast  gave  sign 
of  an  early  winter.  While  yet  the  soft- 
leaved  trees  flamed  in  scarlet,  the  firs  glit- 
tered with  a  fresher  green,  the  starlings 
went  south  and  the  tits  came  closer  about 
the  house.  The  days  were  brilliant,  and 
upon  one  such  morning  their  daily  walk 
brought  Yelaina  and  Anna  Andreaovna 
out  upon  the  Oof  a  forest  road.  In  the 
shade  of  the  trees  the  accumulated  hoar- 
frost told  many  secrets  of  the  night ;  a  suc- 
cession of  oblong  scrapes  showed  a  hare's 
returning  track  to  his  sheltering  bush;  a 
line  of  tiny  dots  around  a  tussock  of  grass, 
the  shy  hurry  of  a  field-mouse,  while  in 
and  out  between  the  bushes  countless  foot- 
prints of  birds  lay  in  white  intaglio. 
Yelaina  and  Anna  had  paused  before  a 


132 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         133 

tiny  disorder  of  feathers  near  a  speck  of 
red  upon  the  white,  in  wondering  pity  at 
the  teeming  tragedies  of  the  forest  night, 
when  the  measured  beat  of  bells  came 
down  the  straight-cut  road,  and  between 
the  distant  line  of  trees  a  rapidly  moving 
pavostia  appeared.  They  stood  beneath 
the  trees  to  watch  it  draw  near,  Anuta 
silent  and  trembling  as  if  with  cold. 

"Why,  it  is  Kir  eel  Paulitch  and — and 
little  Vanooshka!"  exclaimed  Yelaina,  as 
the  carriage  drew  up  beside  them  and  a 
tall,  grave  man,  wearing  a  long  camel's- 
hair  cloak,  alighted  to  greet  them.  "Wel- 
come, welcome  Kireel  Paulitch — and  little 
Vanooshka  too — why,  Vanooshka,  this  is 
capital!"  she  cried,  approaching  the  car- 
riage, where  a  delicate-looking  boy  of 
about  twelve,  wearing  the  ill-fitting  uni- 
form of  the  real  school,  sat  bareheaded 
and  undecided;  at  his  previous  visit  to 
Mardova  he  had  been  kissed  by  Yelaina, 
but  now  the  dignity  of  two  more  years  had 
to  be  added;  but,  as  Yelaina's  face  was  up- 


134          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

turned  for  it,  he  shyly  bent  and  gave  the 
kiss. 

"And  when  did  you  return  from  Jeru- 
salem?" Yelaina  asked  of  the  tall  man,  as 
they  turned  their  steps  towards  the  house. 

"But  yesterday,"  was  the  reply. 

Kir  eel  Paulitch  Bareetsa  was  one  of 
a  not  uncommon  type  in  Russia.  His 
father,  lacking  the  means  to  support  it, 
had  dropped  his  title  of  Prince,  and  dying, 
had  left  to  his  son  the  remnant  of  the  lands 
of  his  ancestors  and  all  the  turbulence  of 
blood  which  had  made  those  ancestors 
foremost  of  their  day  in  breaking  the  Tar- 
tar hoards  on  the  plains  of  Kazan.  For 
years  Bareetsa's  one  pleasure  seemed  to 
lay  in  exhausting  himself  and  his  inherit- 
ance as  completely  as  possible.  Many  a 
frosty  sky  heard  the  shout  of  drunken 
laughter  from  the  black  dot  on  the  plain, 
which  marked  the  village  where  he  and  his 
peasant  companions  caroused;  as  many  a 
Moscow  midnight  had  watched  his  more 
chastened  revels;  and  from  a  Moscow 


dancing-girl  had  his  son,  little  Vanooshka, 
been  born.  From  such  a  course  the  fu- 
ture holds  for  the  Slav  but  one  of  two 
things — yet  deeper  animalism  or  a  pensive 
asceticism.  In  Bareetsa's  case  it  was  the 
latter.  During  the  summer  which  the 
Countess  Valletski  spent  at  Mardova,  she, 
having  known  his  father,  sought  him  out 
and  found  him  ill  and  languid  in  his  house 
at  Oof  a ;  alone,  save  for  the  attendance  of 
a  grizzled  old  coachman  and  a  shaven- 
headed  Tartar  boy — the  faithful  remnant 
of  his  servants.  First  she  roused  him  by 
laughing  at  his  talk  of  death  in  expiation, 
and,  finally,  to  complete  the  cure,  induced 
him  to  visit  at  Mardova,  where  Yelaina 
welcomed  the  now  somewhat  taciturn  man 
with  a  friendliness  that  covered  a  woman's 
understanding  pity.  During  succeeding 
summers  he  continued  his  visits,  and  lat- 
terly had  extended  them  into  the  winter, 
when  there  remained  at  the  house  only 
Varvara  Stepanovna  and  Anuta  to  hand 
him  his  glass  of  tea;  until  one  December 


136          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

afternoon  he  had  almost  spoken  the  words 
which  Anuta's  heart  ached  to  hear.  But 
the  words  remained  unspoken,  and  a  few 
weeks  later  it  was  known  that  he  had  gone 
on  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem. 

Varvara  Stepanovna,  looking  up  from 
her  occupation  of  threading  strings  of 
mushrooms  to  dry  for  winter  store,  saw  the 
group  emerge  from  the  forest,  and  seeing 
Bareetsa,  she  paused  in  her  work,  and  fell 
to  thinking  once  again  of  the  long-passed, 
great,  over-shadowing  event  in  her  life. 
In  keenness  of  feeling  it  was  almost  as 
near  to  her  now  as  in  the  years  it  had  hap- 
pened. Again  she  felt  the  silence  which 
followed  her  father's  departure  to  the 
monastery  in  Kieve,  which  had  hidden  and 
lost  him  to  her ;  again  she  was  come  a  shy- 
faced  girl  to  the  great  house;  again  fol- 
lowed the  flushed  and  breathless  year  in 
which  her  child  was  born — the  memory 
made  her  breathless  even  yet.  But  Var- 
vara, sitting  motionless  by  the  window, 
could  pray  for  blessings  upon  the  soul  of 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         137 

Alexander  Mardoff,  who  within  a  month 
of  his  child's  christening,  at  which  Andre- 
aitch  had  been  called  in  to  lend  his  name, 
had  lain  dead  in  his  house. 

These  memories,  never  wholly  absent 
from  Varvara,  came  closer  to  her  to-day  as 
the  sight  of  Bareetsa  brought  thoughts  of 
a  day  when  her  child  might  leave  her. 
Through  all  these  years  Varvara  had  so 
lived  within  herself  that  she  imagined  few 
without  the  immediate  household  knew 
anything  of  her  story.  Thus,  when  dur- 
ing the  previous  winter  she  saw  signs  of 
an  attachment  between  Bareetsa  and  her 
daughter,  it  took  many  days  and  nights  to 
brace  herself  to  the  explanation  which  she 
felt  must  be  made  before  anything  definite 
was  allowed  to  happen.  It  was  of  this  she 
was  thinking  as  once  more  she  bent  herself 
over  the  mushroom  strings,  and  as,  the 
last  being  threaded,  she  arranged  them  in 
festoons  from  hooks  beneath  the  cupboard 
shelves. 

Upon  entering  the  courtyard  Anuta 


138         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

had  left  the  others  and  gone  indoors,  and 
Yelaina,  being  occupied  under  Vanoosh- 
ka's  tuition  over  the  manifold  points  of 
a  litter  of  puppies,  Bareetsa  had  fol- 
lowed, and  finding  Anuta  in  her  mother's 
room,  stood  before  her  with  a  tiny  box  of 
cedarwood  held  open  in  his  hand.  Within 
the  box  lay  a  small  coil  of  withered  grass, 
a  golden-tinted  cedar-cone,  and  a  small 
mother-of-pearl  cross  set  with  precious 
stones — mementoes  from  the  Holy  Land. 

"I  have  brought  these  for  you,"  he  said; 
"the  grass  I  gathered  in  Gethsemane;  the 
cedar-cone  is  from  Lebanon;  the  cross  I 
bought  in  Jerusalem;"  he  paused  for  a 
moment  before  continuing.  "It  was  in 
Jerusalem  at  last  where  I  found  that  for- 
giveness which  lets  me  stand  before  you 
now  to  ask  you  to  be  my  wife!" 

For  answer  Anuta,  with  trembling 
hands,  took  the  box  and  reverently  kissed 
it.  And  when  later  in  the  day  Varvara 
called  Bareetsa  to  her  room  and  with 
trembling  heart  prepared  to  make  her  ex- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         139 

planation,  he  stopped  her.  "I  know," 
said  he,  and,  bending,  kissed  her  hand. 

Meanwhile  Yelaina,  after  manfully 
striving  to  fix  in  her  mind  the  points  about 
puppies  necessary  to  remember,  had  be- 
come hopelessly  confused  over  them. 
"Vanooshka,"  she  said,  "I  had  no  idea  that 
there  were  so  many  points  to  remember 
about  puppies!  What  do  you  say  if  we 
ask  your  father  to  leave  you  here  for  a 
whole  week,  then,  you  see,  you  could  teach 
me  just  a  little  each  morning?  I  am  quite 
sure  that  I  should  remember  it  all  then — 
a  little  each  morning,  you  know!" 

Vanooshka  sighed  and  thought  it  would 
be  capital;  so  he  was  conveyed  within 
doors  to  obtain  consent  to  the  plan. 

Yelaina  had  long  since  guessed  how 
matters  were  going,  and  now  behind  her 
invitation  lay  the  thought  of  throwing 
Vanooshka  and  Anuta  together  for 
awhile.  Bareetsa,  seeing  this,  consented 
at  once — he  would  bring  Vanooshka's  bag 
over  himself  next  day,  when  he  was  to 


140          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

bring  Claudia  Paulovna,  his  sister,  to  be 
introduced. 

Claudia  Paulovna,  though  Bareetsa's 
elder  by  some  years,  was  in  preservation  so 
far  younger  that  during  the  two  years  of 
her  widowhood,  during  which  she  had  lived 
in  Oofa,  she  had  easily  attracted  to  herself 
the  leading  doctor  of  the  town,  a  man  of 
somewhat  pretentious  appearance,  with  a 
large  family  and  an  ailing  wife.  As 
Claudia  Paulovna  took  her  aime  along 
with  her  wherever  she  went,  it  followed 
that  the  next  day  Doctor  Solomin  made 
one  of  the  guests.  Jonathan  and  Herr 
Julius  were  also  included  in  the  luncheon 
party,  but  the  latter  was  allowed  to  go 
alone,  Jonathan  having  found  it  necessary 
to  visit  the  wharf  that  afternoon — a  final 
inspection,  he  said.  However,  he  was  not 
allowed  to  enjoy  his  sense  of  rectitude  for 
long;  for  he  had  barely  finished  his  meal 
preparatory  to  starting — and  was  yet  far 
from  having  conquered  the  pangs  of  re- 
gret at  having  thrown  away  another  of  the 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         141 

few  now  remaining  opportunities  of  being 
near  Yelaina — when  a  scrawl  from  Herr 
Julius  was  handed  to  him.  "I  fear  there 
are  some  bad  news  to  come,"  it  said.  Bad 
news  could  but  refer  to  one  thing  just  now, 
so  sending  his  horse  back  to  the  stable 
Jonathan  went  over  to  the  house.  In  the 
hall  the  sound  of  laughing  voices  from 
above-stairs  guided  him  to  the  salle. 

"Thanks  for  having  changed  your  mind 
— I  am  glad  your  business  could  wait  for 
another  day,"  said  Yelaina,  as  he  entered ; 
and  he  was  conveyed  across  the  room  to 
where,  seated  on  a  divan,  was  a  comely, 
good-tempered-looking  woman  of  any  age 
short  of  grayness,  with  a  perfumed  gentle- 
man with  curly  hair  standing  in  front  of 
her.  The  lady  was  Bareesta's  sister,  the 
gentleman  her  captured  doctor.  Claudia 
Paulovna,  good-tempered  and  comfort- 
able looking,  was  of  the  type  whose  hus- 
bands, though  loved,  are  details;  who  un- 
failingly attract  men  from  a  higher  social 
standing  than  their  own,  and  who  keep  on 


142          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

doing  so  all  their  lives.  In  the  present  in- 
stance, it  is  true,  she  had  looked  a  trifle 
below  her,  hut  then  the  doctor  had  been 
the  only  choice,  besides  which  he  possessed 
"an  appearance."  Upon  Jonathan  being 
introduced,  Dr.  Solomin,  who  bowed  well, 
and  took  quite  a  while  to  do  so,  expanded 
himself  for  a  talk — an  Englishman  did  not 
often  come  his  way.  For  a  time  Jonathan 
strove  to  follow  what  was  said  to  him ;  but 
his  answers  soon  became  mechanical.  Dr. 
Solomin,  however,  was  neither  hurt  nor  re- 
buffed, as  he  himself  had  other  matter  for 
thought:  Jonathan's  English  clothes  lay- 
ing up  days  of  misery  for  some  uncon- 
scious Oofa  tailor.  Jonathan  spoke  the 
language  charmingly !  Had  he  lived  long 
in  Russia?  Back  and  forwards,  yes,  for 
many  years.  He  had,  doubtless,  heard 
the  opinion  maintained  that  future  civili- 
zations would  need  but  two  tongues — the 
English  and  the  Russian?  Yes,  he  had 
heard  it.  And  what  was  his  opinion? 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         143 

He  was  afraid  he  had  not  formed  an  opin- 
ion. 

Yelaina  had  moved  to  the  other  end  of 
the  room,  where  Herr  Julius  was  amusing 
Anna  Andreaovna  and  Vanooshka  with 
matches  spread  in  wonderful  squares  upon 
the  polished  surface  of  the  piano;  and 
Jonathan,  by  slightly  moving  his  position 
so  as  to  see  between  the  branches  of  a 
palm,  could  watch  the  group,  with  Ye- 
laina, her  arm  around  Vanooshka's  little 
body  and  her  cheeks  against  his  hair, 
watching  the  game.  It  seemed  to  him 
that  no  one  was  conscious  of  any  bad  news. 
Perhaps  he  could  notice  in  Yelaina's  eyes 
something  different  from  their  usual  calm 
brightness — but  if  so,  it  was  so  slight  that 
it  might  be  only  fancy !  What  was  it  that 
Herr  Julius  had  heard?  But  the  doctor 
was  still  speaking. 

"I  have  heard,"  said  he,  speaking  in  a 
sibilant,  drawling  way,  "I  have  heard  that 
in  England  there  is  no  longer  any  differ- 


144         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

ence  in  manner  or  dress  between  your 
merchant  class  and  your  nobility.  Is  that 
so?" 

"No  marked  difference,  I  think — at 
least  in  dress,"  answered  Jonathan. 

"The  result  of  your  democracy!"  said 
the  doctor,  looking  at  Claudia  Paulovna 
with  the  air  of  having  made  a  point.  "It 
is  expedient,  I  may  say  necessary,  for  the 
nobility  to  dress  with  a  richness  befitting 
their  rank;  but  if  your  masses  dress  with 
an  equal  sumptuousness,  what  is  the  re- 
sult?" 

"The  result?"  repeated  Jonathan,  some- 
what at  a  loss  for  an  answer,  "the  result? 
— perhaps  that  it  is  largely  those  who  can- 
not afford  it  who  now  wear  costly 
clothes." 

"Ah!  that  cannot  go  on  for  long!" 

"It  frequently  does  not,"  said  Jonathan. 

The  doctor  was  much  impressed. 
Claudia  Paulovna  said  she  thought  it 
every  one's  duty  to  wear  nice  clothes,  and 
waited  for  the  doctor's  compliment,  which, 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          145 

being  given  in  the  way  of  an  admiring 
glance,  the  doctor  returned  to  English 
democracy. 

"Tell  me,  please,  is  it  also  so,"  he  asked, 
"that  on  your  railways  your  aristocracy 
now  travel  third-class  to  avoid  the  trades- 
people, who  monopolize  the  higher 
classes?" 

But  Jonathan's  nerves  had  been  racked 
enough;  blaming  himself  for  not  having 
first  sought  out  Varvara  Stepanovna,  he 
determined  to  go  in  search  of  her,  so,  as- 
suring the  doctor  that  things  in  England 
were  not  so  bad  as  they  appeared,  he 
begged  to  be  excused  and  left  the  room. 


XII 

THE  housekeeper's  room  lay  at  the 
end  of  a  narrow,  straight-walled 
passage  leading  out  of  the  hall;  and  as 
Jonathan  approached  the  room  the  door 
opened  and  Varvara  herself  came  out,  and 
on  seeing  him  stood  holding  the  door 
closed  behind  her  and  as  if  unable  to  speak. 
Upon  her  face  was  a  look  of  stress  and  be- 
wilderment, and  the  hand  she  held  out  to 
him  was  trembling. 

"What  is  it?"  he  asked. 

"Kireel  Paulitch  has  heard  from  Peters- 
burg," she  replied  in  a  low  voice;  "all  that 
she  said  to  the  peasants — it  is  known  in 
Petersburg — it  may  come  at  any  hour — 
he  will  tell  you!"  and,  opening  the  door  for 
him  to  enter,  she  hurried  away. 

Within  the  room  Bareetsa  stood  with  his 
hands  behind  his  back,  looking  from  the 

146 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         147 

window,  and  appeared  to  Jonathan  as  an 
extremely  tall,  thin  man,  whose  hair, 
otherwise  only  slightly  grizzled,  showed  at 
the  temples  as  two  snow-white  patches. 

"Monsieur  Bareetsa?"  questioned  Jona- 
than, with  a  bow. 

Without  opening  his  lips,  the  other  an- 
swered the  question  and  acknowledged  the 
bow  with  an  equally  courteous  motion. 

"I  am — the  engineer  at  the  mine,"  ex- 
plained Jonathan ;  then,  as  Bareetsa  again 
acknowledged  the  information  only  with  a 
bow,  he  added,  "Varvara  Stepanovna  tells 
me  that  you  have  some  ill  news  from 
Petersburg." 

At  this,  Bareetsa,  whose  face,  save  for  a 
hint  of  weariness,  was  perfectly  expres- 
sionless, replied  that  though  he  had  many 
correspondents  in  Petersburg,  he  had  not 
had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  any  of 
them  lately. 

But  Jonathan,  aware  that  the  other  was 
merely  assuming  a  caution  perhaps  neces- 
sary in  Russia,  was  not  to  be  put  off. 


148          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Surely,  Monsieur  Bareetsa,  the  fact  of 
Varvara  Stepanovna  having  shown  me  in 
here  should  convince  you  that  I  am  to  be 
trusted." 

"You  must  pardon  me  for  saying  that  I 
quite  fail  to  understand  you,"  answered 
Bareetsa. 

"If,"  returned  Jonathan,  "you  will 
equally  pardon  my  saying  that  you  under- 
stand me  perfectly  well.  I  repeat  that  I 
hear  you  have  some  bad  news  from  Peters- 
burg!" 

"Then  I  repeat  that  I  have  heard  noth- 
ing from  Petersburg!" 

Varvara  here  returned.  "She  will 
spare  you  a  moment,  but  she  still  does  not 
see  that  there  is  cause  for  alarm,"  she  said, 
addressing  Bareetsa  as  if  in  reply  to  some 
message;  then  to  Jonathan,  "Ivan  David- 
itch,  what  are  we  to  do?" 

"But  indeed  I  know  nothing.  What  is 
it,  Varvara  Stepanovna?" 

"She  has  been  summoned  to  Peters- 
burg," she  answered  feebly,  sinking  into 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          149 

her  chair.     "You  know  what  that  means !" 

Jonathan  knew  what  it  meant. 

"If  only  she  would  leave  Russia  for 
awhile !"  she  said,  breaking  a  short  silence. 
"But  she  will  never  ask  her  husband  for 
her  passport — even  were  there  time." 

"A  passport  can  be  bought,"  said  Jona- 
than. "Monsieur  Bareetsa,  who  seems  to 
have  special  means  of  information,  pos- 
sibly could  arrange  that." 

Bareetsa  appeared  not  to  hear  what  was 
said;  and  at  that  moment  Yelaina  herself 
entered  the  room. 

"Varvara  Stepanovna,"  she  said  gently, 
"I  cannot  have  you  distressing  yourself  so. 
They  have  been  frightening  you." 

"I  rather  think,"  drawled  Bareetsa, 
"that  Monsieur  Forty  was  merely  talking 
about  buying  some  Russian  curiosities, 
and  I — I  was  about  to  see  after  my  coach- 
man," and  he  quietly  left  the  room;  Ye- 
laina knit  her  brow. 

"Yet  he  sent  to  say  he  wished  to  see  me 
here,"  she  murmured.  "But,  Varvara, 


150         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Varvara,  don't,  dear!"  she  continued, 
kneeling  by  the  old  woman's  chair ;  "it  dis- 
tresses me  ever  so  much."  Then,  as  Var- 
vara's  tears  only  fell  the  faster,  she  turned 
to  Jonathan. 

"Nay,  Yelaina  Grigorovna,"  said  he, 
"it  seems  she  has  cause  for  her  distress — 
she  knows  what  your  being  summoned  to 
Petersburg  means." 

"That  I  shall  go  to  Petersburg,"  she 
answered,  rising.  "They  cannot  hurt  me ; 
I  am  not  afraid." 

"Yet  others  may  be  so  for  you." 

"I  know,  I  know!  But  what  would  you 
have  me  do?  If  I  am  summoned  to 
Petersburg  I  must  go." 

"Yes,  you  must  go ;  but  it  is  in  what  may 
follow  that  the  danger  lies.  Yelaina  Gri- 
gorovna, your  detention  here  would  be  a 
mere  holiday  to  that — to  Siberia!" 

"They  will  not  do  that,"  she  answered, 
shivering  slightly ;  "but  if  they  send  me — 
again,  I  must  go !" 

"No,  Yelaina  Grigorovna,  you  shall  not 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         151 

go,"  he  said  quietly,  "so  long  as  there  are 
any  who  can  prevent  it." 

"No  one  could  prevent  it." 

"They  can,  if  you  will  go  to  Petersburg 
prepared.  Bareetsa,  who  is  able  to  warn 
you  here,  could  do  so  there,  and  you  could 
leave  Russia  in  time." 

"Leave  Russia,"  she  said  musingly; 
"that  is  not  an  easy  thing — even  if  I 
wished  it.  I  have  no  passport." 

"Passports  can  be  bought." 

"You — you  mean  a  forged  passport?" 

"A  false  passport." 

"No,  not  that,"  she  said  proudly. 
"But  I  must  go  back  to  my  guests." 

"So  you  choose  to  be  indifferent  to  the 
feelings  of  those  around  you,"  he  said, 
meaning  to  hurt  her.  But  she  only  flung 
him  a  reproachful  look  and  left  the  room. 

For  awhile  no  word  was  spoken.  Var- 
vara  sat  shrunken  in  her  chair.  The  day 
had  got  warmer  and  snow  had  begun  to 
fall,  the  large,  moist  flakes  framing  the 
small  window-panes  into  tiny  ovals.  A 


152         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

hushed  suspense  within  and  the  muffling 
snow  without  made  a  nerve-quickening 
silence  in  which  danger  seemed  every- 
where ;  moving  not  upon  roads,  but  closing 
in  upon  the  house  silently  through  the 
snow-thickened  air.  It  was  a  relief  at  last 
to  hear  footsteps  in  the  corridor  and  see 
Bareetsa  enter.  He  came  forward  ea- 
gerly. 

"Ivan  Daviditch,  forgive  me,  but  what 
was  I  to  do?  You  were  a  stranger,  and — 
and  you  know  Russia." 

"I  know,"  replied  Jonathan,  grasping 
the  proffered  hand. 

Varvara  raised  her  head.  "Kireel 
Paulitch,"  she  said,  "if  Yelaina  Grigor- 
ovna  goes  to  Petersburg  we  shall  never 
see  her  again." 

And  Bareetsa  sat  down  beside  her,  and 
with  elbows  on  his  knees  and  hands  clasped 
in  front  of  him  was  silent  for  a  while ;  then 
he  said — 

"When  the  order  comes,  whether  to- 
morrow or  the  day  after — or  even  within 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          153 

the  next  hour — there  must  be  no  delay,  I 
fear.  Yelaina  Grigorovna  must  go  to 
Petersburg." 

"And  then?"  asked  Jonathan  quietly. 

"That  rests  upon  what  is  to  follow.  If 
an  'Administration  Order,'  then  I  can 
have  her  warned  in  time  for  her — if  she 
will — to  leave  Russia." 

As  he  spoke,  Bareetsa  blinked  his  bright 
eyes  as  though  they  burned  him.  "When, 
a  little  while  ago,  Ivan  Daviditch,"  he 
continued,  "you  spoke  about  a  passport, 
you  put  me  still  closer  on  my  guard,  for  I 
had  arranged  to  have  one  ready." 

"And  does  she  know  this?"  asked  Jona- 
than. 

"I  have  not  told  her." 

"Then  do  so  at  once,"  said  Jonathan, 
"for  she  does  not  seem  to  realize  her  dan- 
ger." 

"She  must  be  made  to  do  so,"  answered 
Bareetsa,  rising.  "Now  I  am  going  up- 
stairs; shall  you  come?" 

"I  would  rather  wait  here,"  answered 


154         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Jonathan.  "I  will  be  here  until  you 
leave ;  if  there  is  anything  more  to  be  said, 
you  know  where  to  find  me." 

Then  Varvara  and  he  were  again  alone, 
and  the  afternoon  dragged  on.  After 
awhile  Varvara  prepared  some  tea  and 
made  a  pretense  of  going  about  her  duties, 
but  always  with  a  set  expression  on  her 
face  of  listening  for  something.  Toward 
nine  o'clock  sounds  came  of  the  guests  pre- 
paring to  leave.  Varvara  reported  that 
sledges  had  been  got  ready  for  them,  as 
the  snow  was  too  deep  for  wheels.  Then 
came  Bareetsa  for  a  last  word.  "She  sees 
the  danger,  I  think ;  at  any  rate  she  will  do 
as  we  wish,"  said  he,  as  Jonathan  walked 
with  him  to  the  courtyard,  whence  Claudia 
Paulovna  and  her  doctor  had  already 
driven  away. 

"And  the  papers?" 

"I  will  bring  them  to-morrow  evening!" 

Then  the  sledge  glided  away  into  the 
muffled  night,  and  Jonathan,  gazing  after 
it,  realized  that  the  "dignity  of  danger" 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         155 

vanishes  when  a  woman  is  in  question. 
Yelaina  had  retired  to  her  room,  Varvara 
told  him,  and  Herr  Julius  had  left  a 
couple  of  hours  ago;  so,  charging  the 
housekeeper  to  warn  him  at  once  should 
anything — meaning  one  thing — happen, 
he  bade  her  good-night. 

Though  within  doors  the  hours  of  the 
afternoon  and  evening  had  seemed  so 
silent  and  long,  work  had  been  doing  with- 
out; snow  in  drifts  and  hollows  and  level 
stretches  lay  many  feet  thick;  the  trees, 
after  their  summer  wakefulness,  were 
speechless  and  asleep.  In  the  clearing, 
the  steps  of  the  verandah  lay  beneath  an 
unbroken  slope  of  white,  which  below 
curved  into  a  semicircular  drift  of  a  size 
that  gave  Jonathan  trouble  to  get  through. 
In  the  sitting-room,  seated  behind  the 
lamp-lit  table,  Herr  Julius  met  him  with 
a  fixed  stare  which  gave  him  time  to  note 
that  Herr  Julius  had  evidently  been  dwell- 
ing upon  his  old  Riga  days,  for  on  the 
table  before  him  lay  a  somewhat  faded 


156         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

photograph  of  a  group  of  students  in 
Bacchanalian  attitudes,  and  that  also  a 
bottle  of  Crimean  cognac  which  at  midday 
had  been  almost  untouched  was  now  in  a 
fair  way  of  being  empty. 

Having  shaken  the  snow  from  his  hair 
and  garments,  Jonathan  sat  down  for  a 
moment  by  the  table.  "Yourself?"  he 
asked,  indicating  the  central  figure  of  the 
photograph. 

"Yah!"  said  Herr  Julius  ominously, 
and  filled  his  glass. 

"I  should  stop  that  for  to-night,  if  I 
were  you,"  said  Jonathan. 

"And  what  for  should  I  not  trink  der 
cognac?  It  is  a  goot  wine.  What  for 
should  I  not  trink  it?" 

"Because  your  nerves  won't  stand  it,  for 
one  thing." 

"Haff  you  effer  heard  me  gomplain?" 

"That  is  not  it;  anyway,  let  us  clear  the 
stuff  away  for  to-night." 

Herr  Julius  gazed  solemnly  through  his 
glinting  spectacles  as  the  bottle  was  re- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          157 

placed  in  its  little  varnished  cupboard;  it 
was  only  after  Jonathan  had  returned  to 
his  seat  and  was  lighting  a  cigar  that  he 
broke  forth. 

"Ach,  Ivan  Daviditch!  Ivan  David- 
itch!"  said  he,  slowly  nodding  his  head, 
"haff  you  not  yet  learned  dot  no  man  yet 
hass  effer  known  one  odder  man?  He 
may  shpeak  to  him,  yes,  but  not  know  him ; 
dot  we  are  ass  liddle  islands,  mit  deep  sea 
all  around  which  no  man  yet  hass  effer 
crossed — which  dey  seldom  wish  to  cross, 
leaving  dot  for  der  wise  und  great  ones, 
und  calling  them  fools.  Ivan  David- 
itch,  haff  you  neffer  read  Goethe  in  der 
German?" 

Herr  Julius  produced  from  a  corner  of 
the  divan  a  little,  shabby,  dog-eared  book, 
and  Jonathan,  knowing  that  at  such  times 
Herr  Julius  was  fond  of  philosophy  and 
occasionally  said  wise  things,  emptied  his 
lungs  of  smoke  and  held  his  peace. 

"Goethe,"  went  on  Herr  Julius,  holding 
up  the  book,  "was,  as  your  Shakespeare,  of 


158         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

der  great  ones ;  he  strain  his  eyes  from  his 
island,  imd  he  see  far,  though  he  neffer 
cross ;  but  he  teach  dot  of  all  things  which 
shall  waft  a  man  furdest  is  lofe.  Ivan 
Daviditch,  your  eyes  is  sad  und  your  heart 
heavy  pecause  you  fear  harm  is  near  Ye- 
laina  Grigorovna,  und  in  your  heart  hass 
grown  up  a  lofe  for  Yelaina  Grigorovna." 

The  languor  after  strain  was  upon 
Jonathan;  he  was  weary  with  inaction  al- 
most to  exhaustion,  and  his  eyes  were  half 
closed. 

"Have  I  said  so?"  he  muttered  below  his 
breath. 

"You  haff  not.  Ivan  Daviditch,  you 
know  at  this  minute  der  are  tousands  of 
women  dying  there !" — he  motioned  to  the 
east — to  Siberia.  "Starfing  in  pody  und 
mind;  but  hass  that  knowledge  made  you 
lose  one  liddle  hour  of  sleep?" 

"What  the  devil  are  you  driving  at?" 
said  Jonathan,  moving  impatiently  in  his 
chair;  but  Herr  Julius  continued  as  if  he 
had  not  heard — 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         159 

"It  hass  not.  It  is  only  when  fear  of 
such  horror  comes  to  one  ass  your  emotion, 
your  lof  e,  hass  made  seem  part  of  yourself 
• — of  your  island — dot  you  walk  your  room 
as  you  haff  done  dese  last  nights.  Ach, 
Ivan  Daviditch,  your  liddle  island  is  shook 
mid  storm.  Und,  Ivan  Daviditch,  der  is- 
lands iss  neffer  one  shoost  as  another ;  some 
iss  lonely,  so  dot  it  iss  well  sometimes  to  try 
forget  him — und  when  he  will  not  be  for- 
got der  cognac  he  help  make  pelieve !" 

"Is  it  worth  while  to  make  believe? 
Have  you  not  said  that  from  the  bottom  of 
your  soul  you  wished  you  had  never  seen 
brandy?" 

"Und  what  then?  Do  we  haff  all  we 
wish?" 

"What  about  the  will  behind?" 

Herr  Julius  was  silent  for  a  space  be- 
fore he  said  slowly — 

"Ivan  Daviditch,  der  iss  infirmity  of 
purpose  for  evil  things  so  well  as  goot ;  und 
when  you  English  say  der  hell  iss  paved 
mit  goot  intentions  you  forget  der  kind 


160         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Gott  may  grant  dot  heaven  iss  so  mit  bad 


ones." 


"Well,  it  is  time  for  bed,"  said  Jona- 
than, rising. 

"Damn  bed!"  said  Herr  Julius.  "I 
must  read !" 

But  a  little  later,  when  Jonathan  looked 
in  upon  him,  Herr  Julius  lay  asleep  with 
his  head  upon  the  table.  So  with  pillow 
and  rug  Jonathan  made  him  comfortable 
on  the  divan,  and  after  gently  removing 
the  spectacles,  which  cut  into  the  flushed 
temples,  lowered  the  lamp  and  left  him. 


XIII 

THE  following  morning  came  with 
brilliant  sunshine  and  keen  still  air, 
and  Jonathan,  while  grimly  conscious  that 
the  headache  he  had  prophesied  for  Herr 
Julius  had  in  fact  come  to  himself,  con- 
strained himself  to  indoor  work ;  for  there 
was  work  to  be  done  at  books  if  the  mine 
was  to  be  left  in  order.  Herr  Julius  re- 
ported that  at  least  three  days'  work  would 
be  needed  at  the  snow-blocked  roads  of  the 
mine  before  the  peasants  could  begin  their 
winter  work  of  sledging  the  ore  to  the 
wharf  in  readiness  for  spring.  Gangs  of 
workers  were,  therefore,  set  to  work  with 
shovel  and  sledge,  and  Herr  Julius,  rest- 
less and  in  no  mood  for  steady  work,  went 
to  and  fro  between  the  house  and  mine,  al- 
ways watching  the  road  from  the  Big 
House  in  expectation  of  some  message 

161 


162         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

coming.  At  length,  when  the  afternoon 
was  almost  gone  and  no  word  had  come,  he 
said  he  would  go  himself  and  learn  from 
Varvara  Stepanovna  whether  all  was  well, 
and  the  books  being  completed,  Jonathan 
set  out  for  what  he  told  himself  would 
probably  be  his  last  walk  round  the  mine. 

Passing  the  groups  of  black  figures  at 
work  on  the  drifts  he  made  his  way  to  the 
higher  ground  beyond — to  where,  in  the 
summer,  Yelaina  had  stood  and  explained 
to  him  her  conduct  at  the  morning  ride. 
The  dusk  was  closing  in ;  the  sky  overhead 
was  a  pale  green,  while  to  the  north  the 
horizon  was  lined  by  a  dense  stretch  of 
gray-black  cloud,  with  high  above  it,  in  the 
far-away  green,  a  single  star  shining. 
The  voices  of  the  workers  below  could  be 
distinctly  heard.  Shortly  another  sound 
mingled  with  them — the  faint  beat  of 
sledge-bells  coming  from  the  direction  of 
Oofa.  For  awhile  they  grew  clearer,  and 
then  suddenly  grew  faint  again,  pointing 
to  the  sledge  having  entered  the  forest; 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          163 

and  for  awhile  only  occasional  single  beats 
could  be  heard.  Sufficient,  however,  for 
Jonathan  to  know  that  it  could  not  be  Ba- 
reetsa  who  was  coming — his  bells  were 
rich  and  deep;  these  thin  and  hard  as  if 
from  a  posting  station.  The  bank  of 
cloud  in  the  north  was  rapidly  mounting  in 
the  green  and  was  now  only  a  few  feet  be- 
low the  silver  point  of  the  star.  With  a 
gust  of  clanging  the  sledge  emerged  from 
the  forest  and  could  be  discerned  as  a  black 
blotch  moving  rapidly  over  the  snow,  and 
by  the  space  it  covered,  Jonathan  judged 
it  to  be  drawn  by  three  horses  harnessed 
goosam — the  Russian  tandem.  The  road 
down  to  the  village  curved  within  a  few 
yards  of  where  he  was  standing,  and  as  the 
sledge  approached  this  point,  two  figures 
could  be  discerned  beneath  the  hood;  one, 
by  the  glint  of  buttons,  in  uniform.  Jona- 
than watched  it  curve  down  the  path,  and 
as  it  entered  the  lower  forest  road  hurried, 
plunging  through  the  deep  snow,  to  a  point 
which  commanded  the  latter  for  more  than 


164         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

half  its  distance.  By  stooping  so  as  to 
bring  his  eyes  within  about  a  foot  of  the 
snow  he  could  follow  the  sledge  with  fair 
distinctness.  It  was  approaching  the 
point  where  the  road  divided — to  the  right 
down  to  the  village,  straight  on  to  the  Big 
House  only.  It  reached  this  point  and 
kept  straight  on. 

Rising  from  his  stooping  posture  Jona- 
than remained  motionless  for  awhile, 
standing  kneedeep  in  the  snow ;  a  sense  of 
helplessness  upon  him.  The  arrival  of  the 
sledge — the  glint  of  the  uniform  within — 
could  bear  but  one  meaning.  The  plans 
of  yesterday  were  overturned.  It 
changed  everything;  even  the  night  was 
changing — the  stretch  of  cloud  in  the 
north  had  mounted  and  as  he  gazed  up- 
wards reached  the  star  and  blotted  it  out  as 
suddenly  as  the  blowing  out  of  a  candle. 
A  faint,  far-off  sound  of  wind  stirred  the 
trees,  and  unseen,  a  fine  snow  began  to  fall 
through  the  dusk. 

He  must  go  to  her  at  once.     But  after 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         165 

a  few  steps  he  turned  in  the  direction  of  the 
clearing,  moved  by  an  instinct  that  he 
might  perhaps  never  again  return  to  the 
Little  House  there.  From  his  bedroom 
he  took  a  thin  old  watch  that  had  belonged 
to  his  mother;  a  revolver  and  a  supply  of 
cigars,  and  once  more  set  out  for  the  Big 
House.  The  night  had  turned  to  a  com- 
motion of  wind  and  whirling  grains  of  ice 
which  at  times,  driving  upwards,  drove 
even  beneath  his  eyelids.  He  saw  some 
one  approaching  and  Herr  Julius  hurried 
up,  his  face  streaked  with  sweat. 

"What  is  it?" 

"Der  dam  police !" 

"So!" 

"I  have  left  Varvara  Stepanovna," 
panted  Herr  Julius,  fumbling  with  his 
spectacles  in  his  endeavor  to  clear  them 
from  the  steam  that  condensed  from  his 
heated  face,  "and  wass  crossing  der  hall 
when  I  hear  Yelaina  Grigorovna  upstairs 
at  der  piano — it  wass  der  Serenade  of 
Schubert— she  blay  it  goot,  so  I  stop,  und 


166         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

as  I  listen,  from  der  courtyard  come  two 
men,  one — der  young  one — in  uniform  of 
police.  Dey  ask  iss  Madame  Mardoff  at 
home?  I  say  I  haf  not  seen  her;  when  a 
maid  comes — it  wass  Polka,  I  think — yes, 
she  says,  she  iss  at  home.  Iss  there 
guests?  they  ask;  no,  says  Polka.  Ach, 
den  show  us  upstairs,  they  say,  it  iss  impor- 
dand.  Und  I  go  back  to  tell  Varvara 
Stepanovna;  Ivan  Daviditch,  dey  haf  ar- 
rested her — der  dam  police!" 

Since  he  had  watched  the  sledge  go  on 
past  the  village  road,  Jonathan  had  been 
struggling  against  a  feeling  almost  of  de- 
spair and  terror.  The  absoluteness  of  the 
power  which  was  moving  against  Yelaina, 
and  his  helplessness  to  save  her,  made  the 
despair;  the  terror  came  from  something 
deeper — not  for  himself  but  of  himself. 
Out  of  his  despair  stole  a  hope  which  would 
not  be  crushed  down.  He  had  long  since 
brought  himself  silently  to  accept  his  fu- 
ture days  and  years  in  England — days  of 
level  sameness,  apart  from  her,  knowing 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         167 

these  same  days  to  her  were  days  of  lone- 
liness in  the  glittering  pageantry  of 
Petersburg.  But  the  coming  of  the 
sledge  could  alter  this.  She  would  hardly 
live  to  reach  Siberia.  Then  for  her  ob- 
livion and  rest — and  for  him  the  same. 
Were  the  Buddhists  then — four  hundred 
millions  of  mankind — wrong  in  making 
heaven  Nirvana?  While  he  fought 
against  the  feeling  his  inability  quite  to 
crush  it  down  made  him  long  for  the  com- 
ing of  Bareesta  as  the  sick  find  strength  in 
the  strong. 

"We  must  go  to  her,"  he  said. 

At  the  courtyard  gate  they  suddenly 
sprang  aside  as  out  of  the  storm  a  light 
sledge  dashed  in  past  them.  It  was 
Bareetsa,  whose  sledge  bells  had  been  un- 
heard in  the  wind.  A  few  words  told  him 
what  had  happened,  and  together  they  hur- 
ried up  to  the  salle. 

Seated  at  the  side  table  were  two 
strangers  drinking  smoking  glasses  of  tea; 
at  the  opposite  side,  by  the  wall  upon  a 


168         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

small  cane  chair,  with  Varvara  Stepa- 
novna  by  her  side,  sat  Yelaina,  white  and 
quiet,  with  a  frightened  look  in  her  eyes; 
like  a  child  that  had  been  scolded,  thought 
Jonathan  with  a  pang  as  he  went  over  to 
her. 

"They  are  taking  me  to  Moscow,"  she 
said.  "I  am  not  afraid — but — yes,  yes  I 
— yes,  I  am  frightened." 

But  he  could  find  not  one  sane  word  of 
comfort  to  say  to  her.  Bareetsa  was 
speaking  to  the  officers. 

"Gentlemen,  what  is  this?"  he  was  say- 
ing. The  elder  of  the  two — the  one  in 
mufti — shrugged  his  shoulders.  "Ma- 
dame Mardova  is  to  accompany  us  to  Mos- 
cow," said  he. 

"But,  gentlemen,  the  reason?" 

Another  shrug  of  the  shoulders  from  the 
officer. 

"Administrative  Procedure?"  ques- 
tioned Bareetsa. 

"Administrative  Procedure!"  replied 
the  officer. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          169 

"But  surely  it  is  not  your  intention  to 
subject  a  lady — to  expose  her  to  the  dan- 
gers of  a  night  like  this ;  the  Moscow  train 
does  not  leave  Oof  a  till  midday  to-mor- 
row," urged  Bareetsa. 

"Sir,"  replied  the  other,  putting  down 
his  glass  of  tea  and  rising  from  the  table, 
"I  have  not  the  honor  of  knowing  who  you 
are,  nor  what  right  you  have,  if  any,  to 
speak  for  Madame  Mardova.  I  may, 
however,  tell  you  that  we  leave  within  the 
hour." 

"Presumably  you  are  acting  according 
to  instructions,"  persisted  Bareetsa,  pur- 
posely showing  some  heat;  "but  it  is  incon- 
ceivable they  are  such  that  will  compel  a 
woman  to  face  a  night  like  to-night;  the 
risk  to  yourselves,  gentlemen — on  the 
steppe  you  will  not  know  north  from  south, 
the  horses  will  not  face  it;  you  will  never 
reach  Oofa." 

"We  shall  leave  within  the  hour,"  re- 
peated the  other. 

"Then  I  can  say  no  more,"  said  Ba- 


170         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

reetsa,  sinking  into  a  chair  and  covering 
his  face  with  his  hands. 

But  his  words  had  their  effect,  for  the 
younger  of  the  men  left  the  room,  and 
upon  his  return  a  whispered  consultation 
was  held,  after  which  they  announced  their 
decision  to  wait  for  the  morning;  saying 
that  Madame  Mardova  must,  of  course, 
look  upon  herself  as  strictly  under  their 
supervision,  and  must  give  her  word  that 
she  would  not  in  the  meantime  leave  the 
house.  The  officer  addressed  himself  to 
Yelaina,  but  Bareetsa  quickly  answered 
for  her. 

"The  night  alone,  gentlemen,  is  suffi- 
cient guarantee  of  that,"  said  he,  "but  Ma- 
dame Mardova  will  not,  I  fear,  give  you 
any  assurance  whatever,  for  she  does  not 
recognize  your  authority  to  make  such  a 
demand." 

"As  you  please !  but  in  any  case  we  shall 
take  precautions,"  answered  the  elder  of 
the  two.  And,  addressing  Varvara,  he 
continued — 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         171 

"Perhaps  you  will  accompany  Madame 
to  her  apartments  and  also  show  us  the 
way  thither." 

Whereupon  Yelaina  rose,  and  with 
Varvara  left  the  room,  followed  by  the  of- 
ficers. 

Vanooshka,  pale  of  face,  silently  stole 
between  his  father's  knees.  Anuta  looked 
ill  and  haggard. 

"Is — is  it  the  worst?"  she  faltered. 

"I  had  rather  they  were  taking  her  to 
Petersburg,"  replied  Bareetsa  slowly. 
"You  heard  they  are  to  take  her  to  Mos- 
cow, which  means  probably — no  trial,  an 
Administrative  Order,  and — — "  He  did 
not  finish  his  sentence ;  Siberia  was  a  word 
too  well  understood,  and  Anuta  buried  her 
face  in  the  divan  and  sobbed  audibly. 
Herr  Julius  paced  a  corner  of  the  room, 
smoking  and  violently  blinking.  Jona- 
than, outwardly  calm,  lay  back  in  his  chair 
and  endeavored  to  control  a  sickening 
tremor  of  all  his  muscles  and  a  straining  of 
his  jaws. 


172         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

A  maid  came  in  to  clear  away  the  tray, 
and  Bareetsa  bade  her  send  up  his  coach- 
man. When  the  man,  a  tall  gray-haired 
old  peasant,  appeared  at  the  doorway 
Bareetsa  motioned  him  to  him. 

"Ivan,"  said  he,  speaking  in  a  low  tone, 
"you  are  to  go  back  to  Oof  a  at  once." 

"Good,  Kareel  Paulitch,"  answered  the 
man,  tugging  at  his  bushy  eyebrows  as 
though  they  were  mustaches. 

"Listen!  you  are  to  bring  back  the  gray 
troika  and  my  light  traveling  sledge; 
Vanka  will  come  with  you  with  the  two 
chestnuts  and  a  stable-sledge;  bring  for- 
age for  the  horses  and  a  couple  of  days' 
food  for  yourselves." 

"Good,  Kareel  Paulitch!" 

"Attend!  Once  clear  of  Oof  a,  Vanka 
is  to  turn  off  for  Chulni,  saving  the  horses 
all  he  can.  He  will  rest  at  Chulni  and  at 
daybreak  go  on  for  a  couple  of  versts 
along  the  road  to  Borogooslan  and  wait 
there  in  some  sheltered  spot  for  further  in- 
structions." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         173 

"Good,  Kareel  Paulitch!" 

"You  yourself  will  bring  the  gray 
troika  to  the  edge  of  the  forest  here  near 
the  new  workings,  and  remain  in  the 
shelter  of  the  trees  for  further  instruc- 
tions." 

"Good,  Kareel  Paulitch,"  again  replied 
the  man  impassively,  as  he  would  have 
done  had  his  instructions  been  to  drive  to 
the  moon. 

"If  any  questions  are  asked  you  may 
say  I  am  going  a  journey.  Now  repeat 
what  you  are  to  do." 

Still  finding  comfort  in  his  eyebrows, 
Ivan  looked  around  him,  and  finally  spy- 
ing a  brown  cake  of  snow  on  the  rug  at  his 
feet,  trodden  from  his  felt  boots,  carefully 
picked  it  up  and  hid  it  beneath  a  fold  of 
the  scarf  about  his  waist ;  then  like  a  child 
at  lessons  he  slowly  repeated  his  instruc- 
tions. 

"Right,"  said  Bareetsa,  "and  remember 
— give  the  horses  their  heads  should  you 
lose  the  road!" 


174         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"God  will  help,"  said  Ivan,  crossing 
himself. 

"He  will!"  was  the  fervent  answer. 
"Now  go,  and  God  go  with  you!" 

"You  mean  to  try  for  the  railway  at 
Borogooslan?"  asked  Jonathan  in  a 
whisper,  as  the  man  departed. 

Bareetsa  nodded. 

"If  we  can  elude  our  two  gentlemen," 
said  he.  "With  fresh  horses  beyond 
Chulni  she  should  cover  the  remaining  sev- 
enty versts  between  there  and  the  railway 
before  to-morrow  evening — the  Samara 
train  does  not  leave  till  nine." 

"Samara,  Penza,  Viazma,  Warsaw,  the 
frontier — five  days!"  said  Jonathan 
slowly.  "It  will  be  watched  before  then !" 

"It  may  and  it  may  not!"  returned 
Bareetsa:  "our  gentlemen  must  be  made 
to  believe  she  has  gone  in  another  direc- 
tion, however!  Now  see — you  must  go 
with  her,  she  cannot  well  go  alone,  you 
were  about  to  return  to  England  in  any 
case — yes?" 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         175 

Jonathan  nodded. 

"Very  well,"  continued  Bareetsa,  "after 
you  are  well  away,  Anna  Andreaovna, 
with  Yelaina  Grigorovna's  maid,  who  will 
dress  like  her  mistress,  will  start  for  Nijni, 
taking  horses  from  her;  I  will  go  with 
them,  and  at  the  first  change  send  back  the 
horses  in  time  to  give  our  gentlemen  their 
clue  when  they  wake.  Then  we  will 
leave  the  post  road  and  keep  further  to 
the  south,  away  from  telegraph  wires ;  our 
gentlemen  will  probably  hope  to  overtake 
us  before  anything  is  known  of  Yelaina 
Grigorovna's  escape;  well,  at  Nijni  they 
may  overtake  us ! — but  by  then  you  ought 
to  be  nearing  Berlin !" 

"We  ought  to  manage  it  if  only  you  can 
maintain  your  start  of  them,"  said  Jona- 
than earnestly. 

"There  are  chances  against  it — yes. 
And  we  have  first  to  elude  our  friends 
here.  But  if  Yelaina  Grigorovna  goes  to 
Moscow  she  will  never  return  to  Mar- 
dova." 


176         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Towards  midnight  the  storm  had  sen- 
sibly lessened,  but  the  anxious  listeners 
in  Varvara  Stepanovna's  sitting-room 
were  straining  their  ears  for  other  sounds 
than  those  of  the  storm.  On  Yelaina's 
retiring,  the  officers  had  taken  up  their 
quarters  in  her  boudoir,  thereby  cutting 
off  all  egress  from  her  chamber.  But 
Varvara,  who  was  allowed  access  to  her 
mistress,  had  undertaken  to  find  other 
means  of  egress.  The  great  brick  stove  in 
the  wall  of  the  bathroom  adjoining  her 
mistress's  chamber  was  old,  she  said,  lit- 
tle better  than  calcined  sand ;  half-an-hour 
would  remove  sufficient  of  the  brickwork 
to  open  a  way  to  the  corridor.  Jonathan 
sat  dressed  ready  for  the  journey.  Ivan 
was  waiting  with  the  horses  in  the  forest 
road.  Bareetsa  had  been  to  give  him  his 
instructions  more  than  an  hour  ago. 
Now  no  one  spoke.  The  house  was  silent 
save  for  the  nerve-trying  sounds  which 
grow  out  of  silence.  The  listeners  had 
long  since  lost  the  sense  of  proportion  and 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         177 

locality  of  sounds — a  crack  of  the  stair 
might  be  a  pistol-shot,  the  drumming  in 
one's  ears  miles  away. 

At  length  a  door  opened  softly  and  Var- 
vara  stood  in  the  doorway,  and  behind  her 
Yelaina  attired  for  the  journey.  No 
word  was  said,  but  Bareetsa,  slightly  rais- 
ing her  fur  cap,  kissed  her  brow;  Anuta 
kissed  her  lips,  whereat  Vanooshka, 
ashamed  of  his  tears,  buried  a  sob  in  the 
folds  of  her  cloak.  Herr  Julius  remained 
in  the  background ;  Yelaina  held  her  hand 
out  to  him;  he  sprang  forward  and  bend- 
ing over  it:  "God  bless  you,"  said  he,  his 
eyes  shining. 

At  the  small  side  door  giving  upon  the 
kitchen  garden  by  which  Yelaina  was  to 
leave,  Varvara,  her  hand  on  the  latch,  hesi- 
tated before  the  final  good-by.  But  Ye- 
laina, throwing  open  her  cloak,  folded  the 
old  woman  in  her  arms;  and  for  a  space 
Varvara's  gray  head  lay  upon  her  mis- 
tress's bosom. 

Then  the  door  opened,  and  lest  the  roar 


178         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

of  the  wind  through  the  house  should  dis- 
turb the  officers,  was  rapidly  closed  again, 
shutting  the  fugitives  out  into  the  night. 


XIV 

IT  was  noon  of  the  following  day.  All 
night  the  sledge  had  slid  on  through 
the  storm;  at  times,  when  the  road  was 
more  sheltered  and  the  snow  less  deep,  at 
a  fair  speed ;  but  for  the  most  part  slowly 
and  toilsomely.  Twice  they  had  been 
stopped  by  the  drifts ;  and  once  the  sledge 
had  been  partially  overturned.  At  dawn, 
when  the  storm  was  at  its  worst,  they  had 
been  compelled  to  stop  and  turn  the  sledge 
with  its  back  to  the  blast  for  awhile,  when 
they  took  the  opportunity  to  eat  a  morsel 
of  the  food  which  Varvara  had  packed  for 
them.  About  eight  that  morning  they 
ought  to  have  sighted  Chulni,  beyond 
which  the  fresh  horses  were  to  be  awaiting 
them.  But  Chulni  had  not  yet  been 
sighted,  though  it  was  past  noon.  Ivan 
— gray-haired  old  Ivan,  who  had  watched 
over  Bareetsa  in  his  long  illness — was  sure 

179 


180         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

of  his  road,  and  Chulni  was  yet  some  four 
versts  distant,  he  said. 

And  so  it  proved,  for  soon,  with  start- 
ling suddenness,  their  strained  eyes  dis- 
cerned the  great  wind-  and  snow-swept 
dome  of  the  church  towering  above  them 
through  the  wrack.  They  were  in  the 
village  street  before  a  sign  of  it  had  been 
seen.  Ivan  pulled  up  his  horses — they 
did  not  need  much  stopping!  "Chulni," 
he  said  laconically. 

Their  intention  had  been  to  skirt  the  vil- 
lage on  its  right  and  regain  the  main  track 
a  little  beyond.  There  was  nothing  for  it 
now  but  to  continue  right  on.  The  street, 
however,  was  entirely  deserted;  the  storm 
keeping  every  one  within  doors.  The 
only  sign  of  life  to  be  seen  as  they  passed 
down  the  long,  wide  street  was  an  occa- 
sional peasant  face  pressed  to  a  dim  win- 
dow in  wonder  that  any  one  should  travel 
on  such  a  day.  Save  for  this  the  village 
seemed  asleep  and  silent,  shrouded  in  by 
the  storm. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          181 

Two  versts  beyond  they  came  upon  the 
fresh  horses  in  a  dip  of  the  road,  standing 
huddled  in  the  shelter  of  a  patch  of  willow 
scrub.  The  peasant  in  charge  was  a  son 
of  old  Ivan — Ivan  the  younger.  Father 
and  son  greeted  each  other  with  a  nod  as 
the  younger  man  stepped  out  from  his 
shelter  and  stroked  down  the  trembling, 
sweating  flanks  of  the  tired  team. 

"We  will  go  more  quickly  now!"  said 
Jonathan,  speaking  into  the  sledge  to  Ye- 
laina,  as  he  helped  to  put  in  the  fresh 
horses. 

"And  Ivan  will  have  a  rest,"  returned 
she.  "Tell  him,  please,  to  wait  at  Chulni 
till  the  storm  is  over." 

Ivan  had  been  driving  for  the  past 
twenty-four  hours  almost  without  a  break, 
and  for  some  while  now  it  had  become  to 
them  in  the  sledge  a  matter  for  wonder 
that  the  old  man  could  continue  to  face  the 
storm  without  a  sign  of  fatigue.  But 
when  the  final  tightening  up  of  the  harness 
was  being  done,  and  Jonathan,  speaking 


182         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

across  the  backs  of  the  horses,  instructed 
him  how  he  was  to  go  back  to  Chulni  and 
there  rest  till  the  storm  passed,  or,  if  he 
chose,  wait  there  till  his  son  returned  with 
the  present  horses,  Ivan  stopped  in  his 
work  and  patiently  heard  him  to  the  end; 
then  he  pulled  down  his  fur  cap  more 
tightly  about  his  ears  and,  looking  away 
into  the  storm,  answered — 

"Bar in,  Ivan  is  a  good  lad — yes,  Ivan  is 
a  good  lad,  but  when  my  father  begot  me 
men  begot  stronger  children  than  they  do 
now ;  I  can  outlast  him !  I  will  go  on ;  let 
the  young  one  take  back  the  horses  to 
Chulni." 

The  young  one  smiled  sheepishly  at  his 
father,  while  Jonathan  in  vain  urged  the 
wisdom  of  young  Ivan  going  on  with  them. 
The  old  man  would  not  be  convinced,  and 
by  sheer  persistence  was  at  length  allowed 
to  have  his  way.  And  so  they  continued 
their  journey  with  fresh  horses  and  the  old 
driver,  and  once  more  began  the  beat  of 
the  storm  about  them.  It  had  been  less 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         183 

violent  while  the  forenoon  lasted;  now  it 
began  once  more  to  increase.  Snow  fell 
faster  and  was  more  blinding  as  it  swooped 
all  ways  at  once  under  the  force  of  the 
wind,  while  the  cold  grew  in  intensity. 
They  seemed  to  be  shut  within  an  impene- 
trable circle  of  white  commotion. 

A  couple  of  hours  passed — the  horses 
frequently  up  to  their  bellies  in  snow,  the 
pull  of  the  sledge  obviously  telling  upon 
them.  For  the  last  half-hour  Ivan  had 
been  almost  continuously  running  by  the 
side  of  the  sledge,  holding  on  to  the  box 
with  one  hand,  and  getting  into  his  place 
for  a  minute  or  two  only  where  the  snow 
was  less  deep.  But  at  length  he  began  to 
show  signs  of  exhaustion,  and  Yelaina  had 
just  urged  that  they  should  stop  for  awhile 
when,  with  a  stumble  and  a  running 
effort  to  regain  himself,  Ivan  fell  and 
rolled  over  upon  his  back.  Still  retaining 
his  hold  of  the  reins,  he  was  dragged  along 
some  yards  before  the  horses  were  brought 
to  a  standstill.  Jonathan  sprang  to  his 


184         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

assistance.  "God  be  with  me — what's  the 
matter?"  cried  the  old  man,  looking  up  in 
a  dazed  manner,  and  for  a  moment  mak- 
ing no  effort  to  rise. 

"The  matter,"  exclaimed  Jonathan, 
bending  over  him,  "is  that  you  are  done 
up — and  I  fear  we  have  lost  our  way." 

"It  is  nothing!"  cried  Ivan,  slowly 
scrambling  to  his  feet;  "it  is  nothing;  but, 
yes — truly — we  have  lost  the  road!"  and 
he  looked  helplessly  about  him. 

He  was  obviously  in  a  much  worse 
plight  than  he  would  admit  of,  and  it  was 
clear  that  further  exposure  would  be  dan- 
gerous. Yelaina  poured  some  brandy 
from  a  traveling  flask  and  held  the  cup  to 
his  lips,  insisting  that  he  should  drink. 

"He  must  go  inside,"  said  Jonathan. 
"I  will  drive!" 

And  Yelaina  began  to  prepare  a  place 
for  him  inside  the  sledge.  But  Ivan  was 
not  so  easily  disposed  of.  What,  he  ?  Go 
inside  the  sledge  by  the  bareenya? 
Never,  never! — impossible!  It  was  noth- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          185 

ing — he  was  equal  to  another  sixty  versts 
yet!  God  would  help  them!  And  when 
at  last  he  saw  that  Jonathan  was  deter- 
mined he  grew  angry,  and  in  a  dazed,  tot- 
tering way  began  to  grope  for  the  reins. 
Each  moment  of  delay  added  to  the 
danger  of  the  position,  for  dusk  now  be- 
gan to  show  signs  of  falling.  The  horses 
stood  dejectedly  licking  up  little  mouth- 
fuls  of  the  snow,  in  which  they  were  sunk 
almost  to  their  bellies,  while  the  sledge  set- 
tled deeper  in  its  place.  Yelaina  took 
him  by  the  arm.  "Ivan,"  she  said  gently, 
"it  is  my  wish  that  you  go  inside." 

"But,  bareenya,  I  am  strong!" 

"Ivan,  I  command  you." 

The  old  man  drew  off  his  fur  cap,  and 
the  wind  and  snow  sported  with  his  thick, 
gray  hair. 

"I  will  obey,  bareenya',  but  God  help  me 
for  a  helpless  old  man!"  And  going  de- 
jectedly and  with  unsteady  steps  to  the 
sledge,  he  clambered  in  without  another 
word. 


186         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

He  had,  however,  barely  sunk  down 
among  the  rugs  when  he  started  up  again, 
listening  intently. 

"Barin,  barin!"  he  cried,  holding  out  a 
hand  in  warning  to  Jonathan,  "there  is 
something  coming!" 

And  as  he  spoke  a  low  sledge,  drawn  by 
two  horses  and  with  another  tethered 
behind,  came  into  view.  A  moment's 
strained  watching,  and  they  recognized 
young  Ivan  with  the  horses  which  hours 
ago  ought  to  have  been  safely  back  in 
Chulni. 

The  meeting  was  as  much  a  surprise  to 
the  new-comer  as  to  the  others;  but  the 
cause  of  it  was  soon  apparent.  Young 
Ivan  also  had  lost  his  way,  and  instead  of 
going  towards  Chulni  had  been  simply 
circling,  for  he  now  approached  from  the 
opposite  direction  to  that  in  which  they 
judged  Chulni  to  lie. 

Old  Ivan  from  within  the  shelter  of  the 
sledge  poured  out  his  wrath  upon  his  son, 
who,  standing  by  his  horses,  humbly  and 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         187 

silently  took  the  chiding  as  but  his  due. 

Dusk  was  now  rapidly  lessening  their 
circle  of  view,  and  Jonathan  realized  bit- 
terly that  all  hope  of  reaching  Borogoos- 
lan  that  night  must  be  abandoned.  To  at- 
tempt it  through  such  a  storm  with 
foundered  horses  was  hopeless.  Even  if 
they  knew  in  what  direction  to  go,  the 
train  would  have  left  Borogooslan  long  be- 
fore they  could  hope  to  cover  the  distance, 
while  a  twenty-four  hours'  wait  for  the 
next  train  spent  under  the  prying  eyes  of 
the  station  officials  was  not  to  be  thought 
of.  Chulni  must  be  the  nearest  village, 
Ivan  said ;  but  how  far  they  were  from  it, 
or  in  what  direction  it  lay,  he  knew  not. 
With  young  Ivan's  experience  before 
them,  it  was  evident  that  they  might 
wander  the  night  through  in  vain  search  of 
it;  while  to  camp  upon  the  exposed  plain 
where  they  now  were  was  equally  impos- 
sible. In  the  shelter  of  some  wood  lay 
their  one  hope. 

Yes,  said  Vanka,  on  being  questioned, 


188         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

he  had  a  short  while  before  seen  the  edge 
of  what  appeared  to  be  a  forest.  His  own 
tracks  should  not  yet  be  obliterated,  and  if 
they  went  at  once  they  might  find  it,  he 
thought. 

Jonathan  gave  the  order,  and  the  tired 
horses  with  a  struggle  got  the  sledge  in 
motion  once  more ;  Ivan,  triumphant  now, 
going  in  front  in  his  son's  sledge,  while 
Jonathan  followed  with  the  other.  Soon 
a  dim,  straight  line  on  their  left  showed 
the  forest,  and  within  a  verst  of  their  last 
halting-place  they  gained  its  shelter.  So 
great,  however,  was  the  force  of  the  wind 
that  it  was  necessary  to  penetrate  entirely 
through  a  wide  outer  belt  of  spruce  firs  be- 
fore they  found  beneath  the  pines  beyond 
the  shelter  they  sought. 

The  dusk  outside  was  here  changed  to 
night,  making  the  piloting  of  the  horses 
between  the  trees  an  extremely  difficult 
matter.  So,  when  once  within  the  belt  of 
firs,  at  a  point  where  the  pines  grew  in 
somewhat  more  open  order,  though  meet- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         189 

ing  densely  overhead,  the  sledges  were 
drawn  up. 

The  change  from  the  hurricane  without 
to  the  stillness  of  the  forest  was  wonder- 
ful, the  circle  of  the  trees  a  sanctuary.  In 
spite  of  the  dark  roof  of  boughs  the  snow 
lay  without  a  single  wind-made  ripple  be- 
neath, for  as  it  struck  the  topmost  leaves, 
the  branches,  tossing  in  the  wind,  sieved  it 
down  through  the  lower  foliage  until  it 
fell,  a  fine  white  powder,  vertically  and  si- 
lently between  the  windless  trunks.  Thus 
the  high  foliage  overhead  looked  dark  and 
sullen,  while  the  low,  frond-like  boughs  of 
the  spruce  firs  were  bent  beneath  their 
weight  of  white. 

Their  first  care  was  for  the  horses  upon 
which  so  much  depended.  They  were  not 
so  badly  foundered  but  what,  after  a  brisk 
rub  down  with  dry  boughs  of  fir,  they 
could  nose  and  munch  the  hay  which  Ivan 
spread  for  them  on  an  empty  sack 
stretched  between  the  shafts  of  his  sledge. 
A  superabundance  of  fuel  lay  ready  to 


190         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

their  hands  in  the  same  dry  branches,  and 
a  couple  of  fires  soon  made  matters  look 
more  cheerful.  A  smoke-begrimed  ket- 
tle, which  Vanka  produced  from  the 
bottom  of  his  sledge,  served  as  kettle  and 
teapot;  food  from  the  provision-basket 
was  thawed,  and  Jonathan  and  Yelaina 
ate  their  first  food  since  daybreak. 

By  this  time  night  had  fallen,  and  in  the 
cathedral-like  hush  of  the  forest  the  trunks 
of  the  pines,  ruddy  within  the  circle  of  fire- 
light, rose  like  fluted  columns  of  perpen- 
dicular arches  into  the  dark  vault  of  the 
foliage,  while  the  blue-whiteness  of  the 
quiet  snow  lay  beneath  for  marble  pave- 
ment. Where  the  trees  were  more  open, 
Jonathan  trod  out  a  little  path  some  fifty 
yards  long,  where  he  and  Yelaina,  when 
their  meal  was  finished,  could  ease  their 
limbs  after  the  cramping  of  the  sledge. 

As  yet  nothing  had  been  said  as  to  plans 
when  once  the  frontier  was  passed;  but 
during  the  long  hours  in  the  sledge  the 
matter  had  never  been  wholly  out  of  Jona- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         191 

than's  mind,  especially  as  he  more  than 
suspected  that  Yelaina's  private  means 
would  now  be  only  very  slender,  even  if 
the  leaving  Russia  would  not  leave  her 
penniless.  So  as  they  walked  the  little 
path,  and  there  was  a  breathing  time  for 
speech,  he  broached  the  subject. 

"I  have  been  speaking  to  Ivan,"  he  said; 
"he  thinks  he  knows  about  where  we  are — 
about  sixty  versts  to  go  yet — so  that  by 
starting  at  eight  in  the  morning  we  should 
be  by  the  afternoon  close  to  Borogooslan; 
we  need  not,  of  course,  enter  the  town  till 
about  train  time." 

"Yes,"  she  answered,  "it  would  perhaps 
be  better  not  to  wait  too  long  at  the  sta- 
tion." 

"So  our  having  lost  the  way  means,  so 
far  as  I  can  see,  that  we  will  be  a  day 
longer  than  we  planned  in  reaching  the 
frontier.  But  after  that— after  we  have 
passed  the  frontier — what  are  your 
plans?" 

"I  have  not  thought.     Every  one  has 


192         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

been  thinking  and  acting  so  much  for  me 
that  I  seem  to  have  been  doing  nothing  for 
myself.  Besides,  for  awhile  it  is  a  rest  not 
to  think  at  all." 

"Why  not  come  to  England?"  he  said, 
after  a  pause.  "You  could  rest  there 
while  you  thought  over  your  plans." 

Trying  to  speak  calmly  he  described 
Kirkthorp,  with  its  square-towered  church, 
its  one  wide  main  street  and  its  quaint  lit- 
tle shops.  He  spoke  of  the  Vicarage 
standing  between  the  church  and  the  sea, 
with  its  white  windows  deep-set  in  ivy  and 
its  garden  going  down  to  the  edge  of  the 
cliff  overlooking  the  bay,  where  the  sea 
was  ever  moving  backwards  and  forwards 
across  the  yellow  sands.  Uncle  Phineas 
and  Teresa  would  welcome  her  so  warmly 
that,  easy  as  it  was  to  love  them,  she  would 
love  them  at  once. 

"Thanks,"  she  said  gently,  "I  should 
like  to  see  England,  but  it  is  impossible — 
at  least,  yet  awhile." 

"Though  you  have  no  other  plans?" 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT          193 

"No,  I  have  no  other  plans." 

"Then  why  not  come?"  And  after 
waiting  a  moment  he  repeated:  "Why 
not  come  to  England?" 

"I  think  you  might  know,"  she  said  at 
length,  a  faint  color  rising  to  her  cheeks. 

"Perhaps  I  do,"  he  said  slowly.  "I  am 
always  in  London ;  however,  if  you  wish  it 
I  would  not  come  to  Kirkthorp  while  you 
were  there." 

"That  is  not  it." 

"How?" 

"It  would  only  mean  disquiet  for  you 
were  I  in  England." 

"Would  it  be  otherwise  were  you  in  an- 
other country?" 

"Yes,  when  you  have  lost  all  touch  of 
me  and  are  able  to  take  up  the  threads  of 
your  work  again." 

"Am  I  to  lose  all  touch  of  you?" 

She  freed  her  hand  from  her  cloak  and 
hesitatingly  placed  it  within  his  arm. 

"Yes,"  she  said  gently. 

"And  when?" 


194         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"I  have  said  I  have  not  thought  about 
things  yet  clearly — but — but  what  is  the 
first  town  after  the  frontier,  Berlin? 
And  from  Berlin  you  go  on  to  England. 
I  will  probably  rest  at  Berlin  awhile." 

They  continued  their  walk  in  silence, 
and  save  that  he  held  the  hand  within  his 
arm  in  his  own,  he  made  no  sign  of  dissent, 
or  even  that  he  had  heard.  Her  words 
called  for  a  readjustment  of  his  thoughts; 
the  moment  was  too  vital  for  ready  speech. 
Young  Ivan  was  stretched  asleep  in  his 
sledge.  His  father  sat  by  him  smoking 
and  occasionally  glancing  out  of  the  cor- 
ners of  his  cavernous  bright  eyes  to  where 
the  barin  and  bareenya  were  walking. 
As  he  prepared  for  sleep  he  talked  within 
his  beard.  "When  God  can  make  a 
woman  so  beautif ul — well,  it  is  not  for  me 
to  know  why  He  makes  so  few  of  them  and 
so  many  of  the  other  sort.  Now  there  was 
my  Domna,"  he  soliloquized,  knocking 
the  ashes  from  his  pipe,  "aye,  she  was  a 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         195 

good  wife,  and  a  bearer  of  children  with 
the  best,  but  she  was  ugly;  yes,  she  was 
ugly ;  my  God,  how  ugly !"  And  in  pious 
memory  of  his  dead  wife  Ivan  crossed  him- 
self ere  he  laid  himself  down  by  his  son* 
He  was  snoring  rhythmically  ere  Jona- 
than spoke  again. 

"Yelaina  Grigorovna,"  he  said  slowly, 
"drastic  measures  ought  to  have  at  least  a 
probability  of  success." 

"You  mean?" 

"That  your  plan  is  futile!" 

"I  think  not." 

"It  is !  Believe  me  it  is — Yelaina,  come 
to  me  for  always !" 

There  was  a  momentary  halt  in  her  walk 
— a  slight  stumble. 

"You  are  brave  enough?"  he  asked. 

"It  is  courage  to  resist  that  I  need!"  she 
whispered. 

"Then  come!" 

"No,  I  love  you  too  well  for  that!"  she 
said  quickly. 


196         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"Is  that  possible?" 

"Indeed,  yes,  ever  to  burden  you  with 
the  weight  of  a  secret  love." 

They  had  gone  the  entire  length  of  the 
path,  and  turned  in  their  walk  before 
Jonathan  spoke  again. 

"Then  it  is  not  to  be?"  he  said  in  a  low 
voice. 

"It  cannot  be !"  she  said. 

"And,  I  cannot  urge — cannot  beseech 
you  when  all  the  giving  and  trust  would 
be  yours.  But  why  speak  of  burdening 
me? — well — perhaps  that  too!  To  ask 
you  to  believe  otherwise  would  be  to  ask 
you  to  believe  me  different  from  other 
men!" 

"And  it  is  because  you  do  differ  from 
other  men  that  I  say  what  I  do.  As  for 
giving — ah,  I  would  give  you  everything 
— yes,  everything — if  that  were  all!" 

"Yelaina,"  he  said  huskily,  "I  am  only 
as  other  men.  I — " 

"No,  no,"  she  returned  gently,  "nor  do 
I  wish  it.  Shall  I  tell  you  that  I  am  weak 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         197 

enough  to  be  glad  you  have  asked?  But, 
indeed,  it  is  not  for  us !" 

"Why?" 

"Partly  because  such  secret  loves  must 
end  in  sorrow.  In  our  case  the  tragedy 
would  be  all  for  you." 

"If  it  spare  you  it  is  sufficient — but  why 
must  it  come?" 

"Because  I  could  never  be  your  secret 
love,"  she  answered  quickly;  "I  would  be 
too  proud  of  it;  I  could  hide  it  from  no 
one ;  I  would  glory  in  it.  And  such  things 
are  harshly  judged — especially  in  your 
English  world.  For  a  time,  perhaps,  all 
would  be  well,  but  a  time  would  come 
when  you  would  feel  the  little  slights 
shown  to  me — though  I  should  never  feel 
them — you  would  resent  them  and  be 
angry  with  the  world,  and  little  by  little 
withdraw  yourself  from  it." 

"Should  I  mind?" 

"That  is  not  quite  it — perhaps  on  my 
account  you  would — but  it  would  mean 
your  being  in  opposition  to  all  around  you, 


198         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

and  all  your  work,  half  of  your  life  would 
be  useless.  Were  you  one  likely  to  change 
and  grow  tired,  it  would  be  different,  for  I 
would  know  and  would  go  away — it  would 
have  been  worth  it! — but  you  would  not 
change ;  you  would  give  up  everything  for 
me,  and  whether  I  went  or  stayed  it  would 
be  the  same  and  I  could  not  alter  it — that 
would  be  the  tragedy !" 

"And  so  the  changing  fashion  of  re- 
spectability must  govern  both  our  lives!" 
he  said  quietly. 

She  remained  silent,  walking  by  his  side 
with  bent  head.  He  had,  however,  now 
got  himself  more  in  hand. 

"I  don't  understand,"  he  added. 

"Listen,"  she  said,  stopping  in  her  walk, 
"it  is  difficult  to  explain  just  what  I  mean, 
but — can  you  not  know  what  the  tempta- 
tion is  to  me?  I  am  a  woman! — can  you 
not  know  that  my  heart  aches  to  say  yes?" 

"Say  it!" 

"No,  no;  don't  you  see  it  could  never 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         199 

be !  Now  take  me  to  the  fire ;  it  is  getting 
colder." 

He  led  her  to  the  fire  and  was  conscious 
of  her  brushing  tears  from  her  face. 

"Yelaina,"  he  said,  as  she  stood  with 
hands  held  out  to  the  blaze,  "y°u  are 
wrong — but  I  will  say  no  more." 

She  dropped  her  hand  to  his  and  held  it 
for  a  moment  by  her  side. 

"Do  you  know,"  she  said,  in  a  more 
cheerful  tone,  "that  for  the  future  my  life 
will  be  much  fuller  of  interest?" 

"Will  it?" 

"Yes,  for  scraps  of  news  of  you  will 
reach  me  somehow,  telling  of  what  you  are 
doing  in  the  world,  perhaps  of  your  be- 
coming famous  as  you  now  are  in  Russia." 

"I  think  I  can  say  that  you  will  not  hear 
that;  the  men  who  become  famous,  the 
men  who  do  things  are  those  who  see  only 
one  side  of  a  question,  but  see  it  so  clearly 
that  they  are  blind  to  everything  else;  if  I 
dismiss  an  office  boy,  I  suffer  afterwards 


200          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

for  days  by  seeing  his  view  of  the  ques- 
tion." 

"That  is  only  because  you  are  a  just 
man,"  she  said. 

"Some  people  call  them  'decadents,' ' 
he  replied. 

"Some  people  are  stupid  and  blind,"  she 
said.  "But  now  good-night,"  and  she 
held  out  her  hand. 

He  took  her  to  the  sledge,  and  after  see- 
ing that  she  was  well  wrapped  round  with 
rugs,  he  buckled  the  leather  apron  up  to 
the  front  of  the  hood,  thus  turning  the 
sledge  into  a  kind  of  tent.  Then  bidding 
her  good-night  he  returned  to  the  fire 
where,  with  a  rug  and  a  pile  of  fir-boughs, 
he  tried  to  calm  himself  for  sleep. 

He  awoke  with  a  start  to  find  Yelaina 
standing  by  him.  In  the  first  instant  of 
his  vision  he  thought  her  hands  were  held 
out  to  him ;  but  as  he  sprang  to  his  feet  she 
was  standing  with  her  cloak  close  drawn 
around  her. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         201 

"Is  it  late?"  he  exclaimed. 

"There  is  light  on  the  tops  of  the  trees," 
she  answered.  "Have  I  disturbed  you  too 
soon?" 

He  assured  her  that  he  was  glad  to  be 
awake  and,  looking  at  his  watch,  that  it 
was  time  they  were  astir. 

While  the  horses  were  being  looked  to 
and  some  tea  prepared,  Ivan  was  sent  to 
reconnoiter.  He  returned  with  the  news 
that  the  road  lay  only  a  few  yards  from 
the  edge  of  the  forest  and  that  they  were, 
he  thought,  about  seventy  versts  from 
Borogooslan;  and,  further,  that  the  storm 
had  entirely  passed. 

It  was  decided  that  young  Ivan  must 
now  return  to  Oof  a ;  so  after  a  hasty  meal 
and  numberless  stern  orders  from  his 
father  as  to  his  conduct  on  the  road,  the 
young  man  led  his  horses  away,  in  Indian 
file,  between  the  trees.  Half-an-hour 
later  the  traveling  sledge  itself  emerged 
from  the  forest;  old  Ivan  sprang  to  his 
seat,  and  with  a  crack  of  his  whip  and  a  cry 


202         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

to  his  horses  the  sledge  once  more  began 
its  journey  to  Borogooslan. 

The  night  had,  indeed,  brought  trans- 
formation ;  the  stillness  of  the  air  under  the 
intensity  of  the  cold  seemed  absolute. 
Overhead  the  sky  was  blue;  only  near  the 
distant  horizon  was  it  veiled  with  the  sil- 
ver-gray of  a  light,  frost-formed  haze. 
The  endless  mounds  and  hollows  of  drifted 
snow  lay  in  rich  colors  beneath  the  sun- 
shine— the  crests  almost  blood-red,  the 
hollows  dark  with  indigo.  The  quivering 
distances  made  the  eyes  ache  with  their 
gleaming;  the  air  sparkled  with  tiny 
frost-crystals;  the  runners  of  the  sledge 
sang  and  smoked  as  they  cut  through  the 
powdery  snow;  the  world  was  buoyant. 
Midday  came  and  went,  and  traveling  so 
as  to  spare  the  horses,  the  brilliance  of  the 
day  was  dying  into  evening  when  they  ap- 
proached Borogooslan.  Good-bys  were 
said  to  Ivan,  who  stood  with  bared  head 
till  they  passed  out  of  sight  within  the  sta- 
tion; and  another  phase  of  their  journey 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         203 

began.  In  a  corner  of  the  stuffy  refresh- 
ment room  some  food  was  served  them, 
but  of  such  questionable  freshness  that 
their  meal  was  of  the  meagerest.  The 
station  began  to  grow  busier;  groups  of 
peasants  and  of  the  simpler  merchant- 
class  appeared — the  former  with  their 
possessions  slung  from  their  waists  in 
rough  linen  bags,  the  latter  with  their  bag- 
gage bound  up  in  bed-quilts.  About  the 
time  the  train  was  due  Jonathan  learned 
that  it  need  not  be  expected  for  another 
two  hours ;  so  a  further  period  of  suspense 
had  to  be  got  through.  At  last  the  train 
pulled  up  at  the  platform;  whereupon  a 
couple  of  gendarmes  appeared,  looking 
tall  and  important  in  their  uniforms  and 
white-plumed  caps,  and  having  glanced 
around  among  the  passengers  took  up 
their  posts  on  the  platform.  Though 
aware  that  they  were  there  only  on  their 
usual  duty  of  watching  each  incoming  and 
outgoing  train,  Jonathan  felt  ill  at  ease  at 
their  presence;  even  though  they  gravely 


204         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

saluted  as  he  and  Yelaina  crossed  to  the 
train,  presumably  in  acknowledgment  of 
their  being  the  only  persons  of  importance 
on  the  platform. 

They  were  fortunate  in  finding  a  small 
coupe  disengaged,  which  they  at  once  se- 
cured, and  having  arranged  Yelaina's 
rugs  Jonathan  begged  her  to  try  to  sleep 
a  little,  while  he  found  a  seat  for  himself 
in  an  adjoining  compartment.  When  a 
couple  of  hours  later,  wishing  to  see  that 
she  was  comfortable  for  the  night,  he 
lightly  tapped  at  her  door,  and  getting  no 
response  softly  opened  it,  she  was  lying 
with  a  rug  about  her,  peacefully  sleeping. 


THE  two  other  passengers  whom 
Jonathan  found  in  his  compartment 
lay  audibly  asleep,  and  so  huddled  up  that 
it  was  impossible  to  know  what  manner  of 
persons  they  were.  His  own  entrance  at 
Borogooslan  had  only  disturbed  them  suf- 
ficiently to  change  their  snoring  to  an- 
other key  for  a  few  moments.  Though 
the  compartment  was  inexpressibly  stuffy, 
he  settled  himself  in  a  corner  and  tried  to 
sleep  a  little.  But  whenever  he  reached 
the  borderline  between  dozing  and  sleep- 
ing the  rumble  and  speed  of  the  train 
would  magnify  itself  in  his  brain  to  a  sud- 
den rush  and  crash  which  brought  him 
fully  awake  again.  So  that  after  awhile 
he  gave  up  thought  of  sleep.  And  so  on 
and  on  through  the  night,  until,  in  the 
gray  of  the  morning,  Samara  was  reached, 

205 


206         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

and  a  little  later  the  wide,  swirling  shal- 
lows of  the  Volga  were  crossed.  At 
Samara  he  procured  coffee  and  rolls,  and 
they  breakfasted  together  in  her  coupe. 
She  had  had  a  refreshing  sleep,  she  said; 
and  had  in  some  cunning  feminine  way 
made  a  toilet,  so  that  she  looked  fresh  and 
almost  untravel-worn,  save  for  a  trace  of 
weariness  in  her  eyes.  Now  he  was  back 
in  his  own  compartment  and  again  staring 
sleepily  from  the  window,  with  always 
the  same  trick  of  his  imagination :  so  soon 
as  he  had  almost  gained  unconsciousness 
the  rumble  and  speed  would  become  a  roar 
to  bring  him  sharply  back  to  conscious- 
ness again.  They  had  entered  a  cutting 
through  a  belt  of  forest  when  he  became 
aware  that  their  speed  was  in  reality  alter- 
ing. The  train  was  going  slower  and 
slower,  until  with  a  jerk  it  came  to  a  stand- 
still. The  sound  of  a  door  opening  was 
heard,  and  a  blast  of  cold  air  drove  down 
the  corridor.  A  small  roadside  station,  he 
thought,  though  from  his  side  of  the  com- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         207 

partment  there  was  no  sign  of  a  platform 
to  be  seen.  It  seemed  a  trivial  thing;  but 
an  undefined  feeling  of  anxiety  seized  him. 
His  strained  hearing  caught  detached 
murmurs  of  voices  in  Yelaina's  compart- 
ment, and  he  was  about  to  rise  to  go  to  her, 
when  the  door  opened  and  the  conductor 
stood  beckoning  him.  The  man's  face 
bore  a  look  of  authority  distinct  from  its 
usual  ingratiating,  tip-expecting  smile. 

"You  are  wanted  in  there,"  he  said,  nod- 
ding towards  Yelaina's  door. 

She  was  sitting  at  the  far  corner,  her 
hands  clasped  in  her  lap,  and  by  her  side 
the  two  officers  whom  sixty  hours  before 
they  had  left  at  Mardova. 

"Possibly  you  can  explain  matters  on 
our  arrival  in  Moscow,"  said  the  elder  of 
the  two,  motioning  him  to  a  seat  by  Ye- 
laina's side ;  "but  in  the  meantime  you  will 
please  consider  yourself  also  under  arrest, 
Monsieur." 

"And  the  reason?"  asked  Jonathan, 
with  little  enough  interest  in  the  answer. 


208         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"About  that  I  can  say  nothing,"  re- 
turned the  officer.  "Still,  you  know,  it 
was  really  a  mistake  to  have  attempted 
anything  like  this." 

"The  mistake  is  in  such  a  thing  being 
necessary,"  returned  Jonathan. 

"That  is  as  it  may  be,"  the  other  an- 
swered imperturbably.  "But  there  need 
be  no  fuss,  if  you  please;  we  have  some 
thirty  hours  yet  to  Moscow,  and  upon 
your  parole  that  nothing  further  will  be 
attempted,  there  shall  be  in  the  meantime 
no  unnecessary  restrictions  placed  upon 
you." 

Their  words  were  given,  and  they  were 
left  alone. 

It  was  known  afterwards  that  the  few 
likely  railway  stations  had  been  warned 
the  previous  night,  and  that  in  the  early 
hours  of  that  morning,  when  the  officers 
were  in  a  village  near  the  railway,  word 
had  reached  them  that  a  couple  answering 
to  their  description  had  joined  the  train  at 
Borogooslan  the  previous  night,  and  a 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         209 

quick  drive  had  brought  them  to  the  line 
in  time  to  stop  and  board  the  train. 

"Then  Bareetsa's  plan  has  failed,"  said 
Jonathan,  with  dry  lips,  when  the  officers 
had  left. 

"Yes,"  she  answered  quietly ;  "but  don't 
let  it  distress  you  so.  Who's  to  know  if  it 
is  for  good  or  ill?  I  have  felt,  ever  since 
we  left  Borogooslan,  that  we  should  never 
reach  the  frontier.  Who's  to  know  if  it  is 
for  good  or  ill?  For  good,  I  think." 

"Do  you  forget  all  it  means,  Yelaina?" 

"No,  I  forget  nothing,"  she  answered. 
And  after  a  pause:  "Yes,  I  am  content 
that  it  has  happened  so." 

"Why  do  you  speak  so?" 

She  answered  wistfully:  "Because 
each  hour  I  have  been  growing  weaker, 
and  if  we  had  succeeded — perhaps — I 
don't  know,  but  perhaps— I  would  not 
have  had  strength  to  let  you  go  from  me." 

His  hand  sought  hers,  and  for  awhile 
there  was  silence. 

"It    is    almost,"    she   whispered   after 


210         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

awhile,  looking  into  his  face,  "it  is  almost 
as  if  one  of  us  were  dead.  And  now  I  can 
tell  you  that  I  love  you !" 

"And  it  is  I  who  must  live!"  he  said 
huskily. 

Some  time  about  noon  they  changed 
into  the  direct  train  for  Moscow.  Then 
again  across  steppe  and  level  shrubland, 
through  the  afternoon  and  night,  till 
morning  broke  once  more,  and  they  were 
in  the  forest  belt  again.  And  by  the 
afternoon  Moscow  was  seen  in  the  dis- 
tance; "Moscow  built  of  stone,"  with  its 
barbaric  brilliancy  of  coloring,  its  pulse  of 
Eastern  splendor  yet  barely  dulled  by  the 
West. 

They  were  told  that  for  the  present  they 
would  remain  at  one  of  the  hotels ;  a  couple 
of  droshkies  were  called,  and,  an  officer  go- 
ing in  each,  they  drove  down  the  long  ave- 
nue and  through  the  narrow,  cobble-paved 
street  to  the  great  Slavyanski  Bazaar 
Hotel. 

By  nightfall  further  misfortune  began 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         211 

to  loom.  As  Jonathan  moved  restlessly 
about  the  small  room  in  which  he  had  been 
placed  he  became  conscious  of  feeling 
wretchedly  ill.  His  bones  ached,  his  skin 
burned,  and  his  head  felt  full  almost  to 
bursting.  "Just  when  she  may  need  me 
most,"  he  thought  bitterly.  He  rang  the 
bell,  and  asked  to  be  supplied  with  quinine. 
But  each  hour  the  fever  increased.  He 
must  try  to  sleep.  So  he  settled  himself 
upon  the  bed  without  undressing  and  drew 
the  quilt  over  him.  But  the  night  was  a 
wakeful  one.  The  room  where  he  was, 
though  apparently  at  the  top  of  the  house, 
had  the  same  aspect  as  that  one  in  which, 
six  months  before,  he  had  first  seen  her. 
Only  six  months.  And  now  his  world 

was  entirely  changed;  and  she Of 

what  avail  his  pigmy  strength  against  the 
power  that  was  closing  round  her?  And 
yet  there  might  be  a  possibility  still  for 
something  to  be  done.  But  what? 
Curse  this  fever !  He  felt  certain  that  she 
was  still  in  the  building,  for  though  on 


212         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

their  arrival  they  had  been  led  in  different 
directions,  he  had  learned  that  they  would 
remain  at  the  hotel  till  instructions  came 
from  Petersburg;  and  it  was  hardly  likely 
they  would  come  to-night.  Madame 
Mardova's  case  would  be  decided  by  the 
highest  of  the  gang.  He  knew  Peters- 
burg well  enough  to  flush  with  the  thought 
that  the  very  minister  who  held  her  life  in 
his  hand  might  probably  at  this  moment 
be  supping  with  a  chorus  girl.  How  mad 
the  world  was!  It  is  hardly  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  the  night  was  a  wakeful 
one. 

And  the  morning  was  no  better;  and  a 
weary  day  dragged  through.  The  little 
shiny-faced  Tartar  who  waited  upon  him, 
though  attentive  and  anxious  to  show  sym- 
pathy, either  could  not  or  would  not — 
probably  could  not — give  him  any  infor- 
mation. Then  toward  night  came  the 
fear  that  he  was  getting  light-headed,  and 
Jonathan  lay  on  the  bed  in  the  dark  and 
tried  to  prove  to  himself  that  his  brain  was 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         213 

still  clear  by  desperately  calculating  the 
areas  and  cubes  of  various  irregular  forms. 
He  remembered  one  or  two  simple  chemi- 
cal equations,  and  found  he  could  make 
both  sides  balance.  Yes,  his  brain  was 
still  clear  enough — he  must  endeavor  to 
keep  it  so;  finally  he  fell  asleep.  In  the 
morning  he  felt  better;  but  another  silent 
day  had  to  be  got  through,  and  the  night. 
But  on  the  morning  afterwards,  the  fever 
— under  repeated  doses  of  quinine — had 
left  him,  and,  save  for  a  feeling  of  weak- 
ness, he  felt  almost  well  again. 

Since  their  arrival  at  the  hotel  he  had 
seen  nothing  of  the  officers;  but  late  that 
afternoon  the  elder  of  the  two  appeared, 
following  at  the  heels  of  a  stout,  white- 
haired  man  in  uniform,  who  slowly  let 
himself  into  the  chair  which  his  subordi- 
nate drew  to  the  table  for  him. 

"Now,  Mr.— eh— eh — 

"Forty,"  said  the  Lieutenant,  who 
stood  by  his  superior's  chair. 

"Forty— eh,  Forty.     Now  what  is  this 


214         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

stupidness  that  you  have  been  mixing 
yourself  up  with?"  began  the  white-haired 
man,  speaking  in  English  and  with  a  purr- 
ing, well-bred  accent,  as  he  folded  his  soft 
white  hands  on  the  table. 

The  question  seemed  to  require  no  an- 
swer, so  Jonathan  gave  none,  nor  stirred 
from  his  seat  on  the  sofa  at  the  other  side 
of  the  table. 

"Now  I  have  here,"  continued  the  stout 
man,  taking  a  paper  from  his  lieutenant, 
which  he  spread  out  before  him  on  the 
table  and  tapped  lightly  with  the  back  of 
his  gracefully  curved  fingers  (Jonathan 
noticed  that  the  palm  was  mottled  and 
cushioned  like  a  baby's) ;  "I  have  here  a 
record  of  your  past  visit  to  this  country, 
and  I  am  bound  to  say  the  record  is  an 
admirable  one — excellent.  Your  father, 
too — eh,  David  Forty — was  well  known 
amongst  us,  rendering,  in  fact,  some  serv- 
ice on — eh — on " 

His  lieutenant  bent  forward,  pointed 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         215 

out  a  paragraph  in  the  document,  and 
said — 

"The  Oranburgh  Railway,  General." 

"Yes,  yes,  the  Oranburgh  Railway. 
Now,  is  it  not  unwise  that  you  should  have 
been  led  into  mixing  yourself  up  in  this 
worse  than  stupid  affair?" 

The  General  rested  his  plump  hands 
on  the  paper  and  gazed  blandly  across  the 
table. 

"Is  there  need  for  all  this?"  said  Jona- 
than quietly.  "But  as  you  ask  me,  I  say 
that  I  do  not  think  it  unwise ;  though  I  do 
think  it  unwise  that  'this  worse  than  stupid 
affair'  is  still  possible." 

"That  is  as  it  may  be.  However,  I  am 
bound  to  grant  that  you  had  some  tempta- 
tion, for  the  lady  is  charming — cer — 
tain — ly  char — ming,"  returned  the  Gen- 
eral, pursing  up  his  mouth  and  half -clos- 
ing his  kindly  blue  eyes,  producing  an  ex- 
pression wholly  lascivious. 

"We  will  leave  that,  if  you  please," 


216         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Jonathan  answered,  flushing.  "It  is 
doubtless  decided  what  is  required  of  me; 
am  I  to  be  conducted  to  the  frontier  and 
dismissed  from  the  country?  If  that  is  it, 
please  say  so." 

"Yes,  that  is  precisely  it.  But  we  will 
come  to  that  later;  only  remember,  I  am 
not  your  judge — God  forbid,  God  forbid; 
I  know  the  temptation !"  Again  the  rosy 
mouth  was  pursed  up  and  the  eyes  half- 
closed.  "The  lady  will  receive  the  proper, 
the  only  adequate — eh — correction.  It 
may  be  a  severe  one ;  but  again  I  say  I  am 
not  the  judge.  Now  it  is  just  possible — 
mind,  I  have  no  absolute  authority  to  say 
so — but  I  believe  it  is  possible  that  you 
can  be  of  service  to  her.  She  had,  as  you 
are  aware,  a  forged  passport  in  her  posses- 
sion." 

For  the  first  time  Jonathan  remembered 
the  passport  which  had  been  so  anxiously 
procured  for  her.  Why  had  he  not  taken 
it  from  her  in  the  train?  How  easily  he 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         217 

could  have  destroyed  it!  But  yet,  would 
it  make  any  real  difference? 

"And,"  continued  the  General,  "these 
things  are  being  used  a  little  too  often  just 
now;  we  are  determined  to  put  a  stop  to 
it.  In  this  case  the  forgery  is  an  unusu- 
ally good  one — or  bad  one ;  it  is  made  out 
on  the  official  form  that  can  have  been  pro- 
cured only  from  the  office  of  the  Governor- 
General  of  Oofa.  Now  I  believe — I 
speak  with  reservation — but  I  believe  it 
might  help  the  lady's  case  considerably  by 
your  disclosing  how  and  through  whom 
this  document  was  procured." 

"The  lady  has  absolutely  no  knowledge 
whatever  of  how  the  passport  was  pro- 
cured," said  Jonathan  steadily. 

"Though  you  yourself  have!" 

"I  have  not." 

"You  refuse  to  say?" 

"I  have  said  that  I  am  ignorant  as  to 
how  the  thing  was  procured.  And  did  I 
know,  I  am  barely  so  foolish  as  to  imagine 


218         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

that  the  fact  of  my  telling  you  would  in 
the  slightest  degree  benefit  the  lady." 

"As  you  please." 

"It  is,"  returned  Jonathan. 

"You  yourself  will  be  conducted  to  the 
frontier;  my  lieutenant  will  accompany 
you.  Your  surmise  was  correct — you  are 
dismissed  from  Russia;  and  under  no  cir- 
cumstances whatever  will  you  be  per- 
mitted to  re-enter  the  country."  The 
General  folded  up  the  paper  and  rose 
from  his  chair.  Jonathan  bowed;  it  was 
exactly  what  he  had  expected. 

"Did  I  mention,"  added  the  General, 
pausing  for  a  moment  by  the  door,  which 
his  subordinate  deferentially  held  open  for 
him;  "did  I  mention  that  you  will  leave 
by  the  courier  train  to-night? — at  eight 
o'clock  precisely."  Then  the  door  closed. 

It  was  only  what  he  had  expected,  yes 
— but  was  he  never  to  see  her  again?  He 
bowed  his  head  upon  his  arms  folded  on 
the  table. 

Half-an-hour   later   the   door   opened 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         219 

again    and    the    Lieutenant    re-entered. 

"General  Arsenieff  has  given  permis- 
sion to  the  lady  to  see  you  for  a  few  mo- 
ments" said  he. 

Following  the  man  through  narrow, 
white-washed  brick  passages,  he  was  taken 
into  a  room  where  sat  an  elderly  woman 
wearing  a  dark  shawl  over  her  head  and 
shoulders.  The  latter  put  down  her  sew- 
ing on  seeing  him,  and  at  once  ushered 
him  into  an  inner  room.  By  the  sparse 
light  which  two  candles  could  give  in  a 
fairly  large  room  he  saw  Yelaina,  stand- 
ing by  a  small  table,  one  hand  resting  upon 
it,  waiting  for  him. 

"Yelaina,  what  is  it?"  he  cried,  grasp- 
ing her  hands.  He  saw  that  she  was  pale, 
with  tired  lines  about  her  eyes  and  lips, 
though  she  appeared  to  be  quite  calm. 

"I  could  beg  just  three  minutes,"  she 
said  in  a  low,  steady  voice;  "and  all  we  say 
will  probably  be  heard,  so " 

"Yelaina,  tell  me  what  it  is,"  he  en- 
treated. 


220         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"I  am  accused  of  causing  unrest  among 
the  people,  and  I  am  to  be  sent — where  I 
can  do  so  no  more." 

"Siberia?" 

She  nodded. 

His  lips  were  dry;  and  for  a  moment 
there  was  silence. 

"And  I  cannot  go  with  you!"  he  fal- 
tered. 

"No,  no;  how  could  you?  Besides,  you 
are  to  be  dismissed  from  Russia — I  learnt 
that  from  the  wardress  out  there.  But 
don't  be  troubled,  my  dear  one ;  it  may  not 
be  so  terrible." 

"How  could  it  be  worse?" 

"You  do  not  know — I  am  not  to  be  sent 
to  prison;  I  am  to  travel  with  no  indigni- 
ties. He — Paul  Alexandritch — has  done 
that  for  me." 

"Tell  me  all." 

"I  am  to  be  taken  to  Tiumen,  and  from 
there  I  am  to  be  placed  in  a  village ;  what 
means  I  have  are  reserved  to  me;  only — 
only  I  must  live  in  the  village." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         221 

"How  long — for  how  long?" 

"That  I  do  not  know;  there  are  other 
things.  I  am  suspected  of  belonging  to 
some  society;  they  urged  me  to  disclose 
what  I  knew — but  even  if  I  would,  how 
could  I  ?  I  know  no  societies." 

"And  the  passport — I  forgot  to  destroy 
it,"  he  cried. 

"It  could  make  no  difference;  don't 
speak  of  it,"  she  answered  hurriedly. 

"I  think,"  he  said  slowly,  "I  would 
rather  know  you  were  dead." 

"It  seemed  like  death  at  first;  but  had 
it  been  otherwise,  our  lives  would  still  have 
been  apart;  and — and  see,  our  time  is  al- 
ready up."  Her  lips  were  trembling;  her 
fortitude  was  leaving  her.  She  buried  her 
face  in  her  hands  and  lay  sobbing  on  his 
breast. 

"I  will  not  leave  you!"  he  said. 

"Yes,  yes,"  she  cried  wildly;  "you  must 
go  back  to  England — and  the  land  will 
divide  us — and  the  sea — and  you  must  not 
think  of  me  any  more — but  I — oh,  I  will 


222          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

think  of  you  always — you  shall  be  as  a 
God  to  me  in  my  darkness." 

A  knock  came  at  the  door. 

"Don't  let  them  come  in — oh,  don't  let 
them  come  in!"  she  whispered,  trembling. 
His  head  sank  to  hers ;  he  kissed  her  eyes, 
her  mouth  and  hair. 

"You  must  please  come  now,"  said  the 
wardress. 

And  he  was  led  back  through  the  white- 
washed passages  to  his  room,  and  an  hour 
later  was  being  driven,  the  Lieutenant  by 
his  side,  to  the  Nicolievski  railway  station. 

Through  the  night  air  came  strains  of 
martial  music.  At  the  entrance  to  the 
great  station  their  droshki  was  stopped; 
the  square  itself  was  lined  with  soldiers; 
a  detachment  of  Guards  stood  at  the  sa- 
lute, while  its  band  crashed  out  the  Rus- 
sian Anthem — perhaps  the  mightiest 
hymn  men  have  listened  to — full  of  Sove- 
reignty, of  Purple  and  Gold,  and  the  Di- 
vine Right  of  Kings.  Outside  the  people 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         223 

stood  bareheaded.     A  Grand  Duke  was 
arriving  or  departing. 

But  as  regards  this  Divine  Right,  its 
Divinity  would  seem  to  need  some  nurs- 
ing: within  sound  of  the  glittering  square 
lay  a  woman  face  downwards  on  her  bed, 
sobbing  hopelessly,  the  light  of  life  to  be 
taken  from  her,  lest  haply  she  might  in 
some  remote  degree  quiver  the  fringe  of 
its  Divineness. 


XVI 

OUT  of  the  infinitely  remote  causes 
which  conditioned  the  atmospheric 
currents  that  brought  down  the  storm 
around  Oofa  on  that  late  October  night 
was  born  the  failure  of  Jonathan  and 
Yelaina  to  elude  the  officers.  Barely  an 
hour  after  they  had  left  the  house,  Ba- 
reetsa  and  Anna  Andreaovna,  taking  Liza 
with  them,  set  out  for  Nijni.  From  an 
upper  window  Varvara  and  Herr  Julius 
had  watched  them  drive  out  of  the  stable- 
yard  into  the  shrouding  storm.  Shortly 
afterwards  Herr  Julius  also  left;  Var- 
vara insisting  that  there  was  no  need  for 
him  waiting.  The  officers  would  proba- 
bly not  stir  till  morning,  and  in  any  case 
they  would  not  interfere  with  her.  So 
Varvara  was  left  alone;  and  there  began 
a  period  of  silent  nerve-straining  waiting. 

224 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         225 

She  sat  listening  with  nerves  that  mag- 
nified each  sound  of  the  night  and  set  her 
heart  beating  with  a  palpitation  that 
moved  her  in  her  chair.  Facts  lost  their 
proportions;  the  world  consisted  alone  of 
the  two  men  asleep  upstairs  and  the  two 
sledges  out  in  the  night.  The  noise  of  her 
beating  heart  became  the  thud  of  gallop- 
ing hoofs  upon  the  snow,  and  she  began  to 
dread  its  ceasing,  for  every  beat  sped  the 
sledges  on  their  journey.  As  she  sat  in 
the  silence  the  long  nights  before  Anuta 
was  born  came  back  to  her;  when  the  se- 
cret burden  was  her  own  and  she  had 
ceased  to  pray,  so  hopeless  did  it  seem  for 
prayer  to  help  her;  when  she  had  longed 
only  to  die  that  her  baby  might  never  be 
born.  And  now,  an  old  woman,  she  was 
praying  for  protection  for  that  child  out 
in  the  night. 

Surely  that  was  the  officers  stirring? 
She  sprang  to  her  feet  and  listened;  but 
her  heart  beat  so  loudly  that  her  hearing 
was  confused.  No,  it  was  nothing!  And 


226         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

she  sank  back  into  her  chair  again.  The 
horses  were  galloping  faster — or  was  it 
her  heart?  They  were  dragging  her  away 
and  she  could  not  hold  them.  She  was 
floating  between  the  two  sledges  which 
traveled  in  parallel  lines  so  near  together 
that  as  she  glided  along  between  them  she 
could  hold  out  a  hand  to  each.  The  mo- 
tion made  her  drowsy,  and  she  fell  asleep. 

Again  the  noises  in  the  house ! — but  she 
was  falling — she  called  out,  and  hands 
from  the  sledges  closed  over  her.  They 
were  rough  hands  that  shook  her;  and  she 
awoke.  The  elder  of  the  two  officers  was 
shaking  her  by  the  arm.  His  loud,  ex- 
cited voice  brought  her  fully  awake. 

"Madame  Mardova  is  gone!"  he  was 
shouting.  "Wake  up,  you  old  devil! 
Where  is  she?" 

"Ask  in  the  stables,"  she  said,  as  she  was 
dragged  to  her  feet.  "They  will  tell  you 
her  sledge  left  more  than  an  hour  ago !" 

"It's  all  right!"  cried  the  younger  offi- 
cer, hurrying  into  the  room  from  the 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         227 

stables,  "she  is  making  for  Nijni!  Come 
on." 

They  hurried  away,  and  Varvara,  lis- 
tening, heard  the  clamor  from  the  stables, 
as  their  sledge  was  prepared,  settle  into 
silence  after  they  had  gone. 

All  that  day  the  house  lay  hidden  in  the 
storm;  and  for  three  days  no  news  came 
from  without.  The  night  of  the  third  day 
brought  old  Ivan  with  his  report  of  the 
fugitives  having  reached  Borogooslan  in 
safety  though  a  day  late;  and  after  mid- 
night Bareetsa  and  Anna  Andreaovna  re- 
turned. They  had  the  same  dishearten- 
ing tale — held  back  by  the  storm,  and 
horsekeepers  afraid  to  let  their  animals 
out  on  such  a  night.  So  that  on  the  sec- 
ond afternoon,  with  only  a  hundred  and 
forty  miles  covered,  as  they  waited  for 
horses  at  a  posting-station,  the  officers  had 
overtaken  them.  The  latter,  seeing  they 
had  been  misled,  had  taken  the  only 
horses  to  be  had  and  hurriedly  left  in  the 
direction  of  the  railway,  leaving  Bareetsa 


228         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

and  Anna  to  comfort  themselves  as  best 
they  might  with  the  thought  that  probably 
by  now  Yelaina  might  be  twenty-four 
hours  ahead. 

Ivan's  story  of  the  night's  delay  de- 
stroyed that  hope,  however,  and  they  sat 
in  Varvara's  parlor  silent  and  hopeless. 

"They  might  not  reach  the  railway  in 
time,"  said  Varvara  faintly. 

"We  can  hardly  count  on  that,  I  fear 
they  would  join  the  very  train,"  an- 
swered Bareetsa,  who  now  looked  tired 
and  old. 

For  a  week  no  further  news  reached 
them.  Herr  Julius  was  kept  busy  about 
the  closing  down  of  the  mine.  There  was 
some  grumbling  among  the  peasants. 
Yelaina  Grigorovna  had  opened  the  mine 
for  her  pastime,  they  said,  and  having 
tired  of  her  toy  had  now  gone  back  to 
Petersburg  to  enjoy  herself,  and  this,  too, 
at  the  beginning  of  winter,  when  they 
needed  help  the  most.  But  as  the  week 
grew  the  grumblers  had  fewer  listeners; 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         229 

rumors  of  something  darker  were  heard. 
But  Herr  Julius  was  a  stern  disciplinar- 
ian; he  went  about  his  work  and  no  one 
grumbled  within  his  hearing.  Then  one 
morning,  while  he  was  at  breakfast,  Koolic 
announced  Andrea  Andreaitch.  The  in- 
tendant  looked  heavy  with  the  responsibil- 
ity of  dark  news. 

"You  have  heard?"  asked  he. 

"Heard  what?"  said  Herr  Julius. 

"Yelaina  Grigorovna  is  to  be  sent  to 
Siberia!" 

Herr  Julius  inhaled  a  deep  breath  from 
his  cigarette  and  made  no  reply,  but  con- 
tinued his  walk  to  and  fro  by  the  table 
upon  which  stood  his  glass  of  tea.  An- 
dreaitch stood  by  the  stove  warming  his 
hands. 

"Paul  Alexandritch,"  he  went  on,  "is 
heartbroken;  his  letter  is  so  disjointed  I 
could  hardly  make  it  out— his  instruc- 
tions, however,  are  explicit  enough.  I 
have  just  been  to  the  House  to  inform 
them.  Paul  Alexandritch  seems  to  think 


230         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Varvara  Stepanovna  a  good  deal  to  blame, 
you  know.  But  whatever  way,  he  seems 
just  heart-broken." 

"I  do  not  pelieve  dot  Paul  Alexandritch 
iss  heart-broken;  nor  do  you,  my  friend," 
said  Herr  Julius.  "But  what  Paul  Alex- 
andritch says  or  thinks  matters  not — he 
iss  a  poor  man  iss  Paul  Alexandritch." 

"I  would  remind  you  that  what  Paul 
Alexandritch  says  matters  here  every- 
thing in  the  world,  both  to  you  and  me. 
And  he  instructs  me,"  Andreaitch  turned 
over  the  pages  of  the  letter  as  if  in  search 
of  some  special  point,  "he  instructs  me  to 
close  the  mine  at  once;  everything  is  to  be 
left  just  as  before  this  foolish  business  be- 
gan." 

"Der  mine  iss  closed,"  snapped  Herr 
Julius. 

"And  the  men — have  they  been  dis- 
missed?" 

"Der  iss  only  Peotra — I  pay  him  to- 
day." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         231 

''Then — my  instructions  apply  to  your- 
self as  well.  Paul  Alexandritch  wishes 
this  house  to  be  closed  at  once.  He  is  very 
just;  I  am  to  pay  all  monies  due,  so  if 
there  are  any  wages  owing  to  you " 

"Der  iss  no  money  owing  me,"  returned 
Herr  Julius,  his  face  flushed  and  swelling 
with  anger,  "und  iff  there  wass  I  would 
take  no  money  from  your  hands." 

Andreaitch  shrugged  his  shoulders  and 
gently  smiled. 

"Then  you  will  not  forget  that  this 
house  is  to  be  closed  at  once — to-day?" 

"So,  so.  But  for  der  present  diss  house 
iss  mine,  und  you  will  oblige  me  by — by 
going  forth  you — you  cat,"  spluttered 
Herr  Julius,  pointing  to  the  door.  He 
had  paused  for  a  harder  word  but  none 
had  come,  and  he  broke  into  incoherent 
German. 

Andreaitch  was  a  timid  man,  so  he  hur- 
riedly made  for  the  door,  calling  over  his 
shoulder — 


232         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"If  you  need  horses  get  them  from  the 
village,  we  have  none  to  spare  for  you 
here." 

As  soon  as  he  was  gone  Herr  Julius 
brought  from  his  bedroom  a  damp  towel 
and  walked  the  floor  mopping  his  face  and 
neck;  then  he  counted  out  some  money 
from  a  drawer,  put  on  his  hat — an  old 
student's  cap  which  looked  absurdly  small 
perched  over  his  flushed  and  excited  face 
— and  went  out  to  the  mine.  When  he 
returned,  an  hour  later,  the  last  of  the  men 
had  been  paid  off  and  the  mine  was  left 
once  more  to  its  old  stillness. 

But  Herr  Julius  made  no  preparations 
for  his  own  departure.  Instead,  he 
poured  himself  out  a  glass  of  vodka  and, 
standing  by  the  cupboard  while  he  drank 
it,  counted  over  the  remaining  stock  of 
spirits.  There  were  two  full  bottles  and 
part  of  a  third.  One  of  these  he  placed 
on  the  table,  and  calling  Koolic,  dis- 
patched him  for  a  further  supply. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         233 

For  more  than  an  hour  the  quiet  of  the 
room  was  broken  only  by  an  occasional 
deep-drawn  breath.  Then  he  began  to 
drink,  to  drink  steadily.  So  that  when, 
towards  evening,  Koolic  returned,  the 
Tartar  hesitated  to  enter  the  room  and 
placed  the  stone  jar  within  the  doorway 
while  he  waited  for  further  orders.  Herr 
Julius  waved  him  away. 

Two  mornings  later  old  Seraphima  pre- 
sented herself  at  the  Big  House  and  re- 
ported that  Herr  Julius  was  ill.  All 
night  he  had  been  stamping  about  his 
room,  and  when  he  was  not  shouting  aloud 
he  was  chattering  to  himself  in  a  way  that 
was  dreadful  to  hear;  there  had  been 
sounds  of  furniture  being  dragged  along 
the  floor  and  of  the  breaking  of  glass,  so 
that  she  and  Koolic  dared  not  sleep  but 
had  sat  up  all  night  listening  to  him. 
Varvara  knew  not  what  to  do,  and  there 
was  none  to  advise  her.  But  she  threw 
on  a  cloak  and  returned  with  Seraphima. 


234         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

A  low  muttering  came  from  the  room. 
"Is  there  some  one  with  him?"  asked  Var- 
vara  tremulously. 

"No,  he  would  allow  no  one  to  see  him," 
Seraphima  said. 

The  sound  ceased  for  awhile;  so,  with 
trembling  hands,  Varvara  opened  the 
door.  The  divan  had  been  dragged 
across  a  corner  of  the  room  as  if  for  a  bar- 
ricade, and  behind  it  lay  Herr  Julius,  un- 
conscious, dressed  in  his  shirt  and  trousers 
only,  his  bare  feet  bleeding,  cut  by  the 
broken  glass  that  littered  the  floor. 

They  got  him  to  bed,  where  he  lay  with- 
out sound  or  movement;  Varvara  sitting 
by  him  till  night,  when  Bareetsa  came  to 
relieve  her.  Early  the  following  morning 
he  awoke  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  go 
back  to  Petersburg,  but  he  was  too  weak 
and  shaken  to  travel.  However,  as  An- 
dreaitch  insisted  upon  having  the  house 
closed,  Herr  Julius  was  carried  over  to 
the  Big  House.  And  it  was  a  full  week 
later,  on  a  brilliant  frosty  morning,  before 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         235 

Herr  Julius,  humbled  now  and  sorrowful, 
bade  them  good-by  and  set  out  for  Peters- 
burg. 


XVII 

ON"  a  damp,  still  evening  in  Septem- 
ber Jonathan  Forty  was  walking 
leisurely  beneath  the  trees  in  Kensington 
Gardens.  The  incidents  of  the  summer  at 
Mardova  lay  eight  years  behind ;  boys  then 
at  school  were  now  men  of  affairs ;  young 
ladies  then  with  their  hair  in  pigtails  now 
gave  orders  to  their  nursemaids.  The 
years  had  left  their  mark  upon  Jonathan, 
as  well  in  the  slight  silvering  of  the  hair 
as  in  other  and  more  indefinite  ways.  As 
a  man  of  action  he  had  ceased  to  count. 
His  clerks,  through  long  habit,  had  come 
to  regard  their  two  hours  spent  over  lunch- 
eon as  their  right,  and  to  close  the  office 
at  four-thirty  of  an  afternoon  as  their 
duty.  While  many  of  his  old  clients  still 
sought  his  advice,  few  new  ones  came. 
The  mining  world  needed  men  of  another 

236 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         237 

type  now;  and  he  had  become  more  and 
more  content  to  stand  aside.  To  those 
about  him  his  life  appeared  strangely  nar- 
row and  lonely;  among  his  few  friends 
there  was  none  with  whom  he  was  inti- 
mate ;  and  though  his  active  interest  in  his 
profession  grew  less  and  less,  he  was  rarely 
absent  from  his  rooms  over  his  office  in 
King  George's  Place,  save  on  his  short 
visits  to  Kirkthorp. 

When,  eight  years  ago,  he  parted  from 
his  conductors  on  the  frontier  of  Russia  he 
had  gone  to  the  South  of  Spain,  finding 
his  excuse  in  some  trivial  business  matter 
there ;  and  in  the  warmth  and  the  sun,  the 
primitive  minds  of  the  people  and  their 
quiet  ways,  had  felt  himself  not  perhaps 
quite  so  utterly  and  hopelessly  distant 
from  her  as  he  would  have  felt  in  clean- 
collared  England.  Teresa  wrote  advis- 
ing him  to  take  a  long  holiday;  he  was  not 
so  far  from  them  as  when  in  Russia;  "the 
sea  washing  into  Kirkthorp  Bay  stretches 
straight  to  you  on  the  coast  of  Spain." 


238         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

So  it  had  been  the  following  summer  be- 
fore he  returned  to  England. 

News  came  to  him  occasionally  from 
Russia.  Herr  Julius  was  back  in  his  old 
post  at  the  paper  works  in  Petersburg, 
and  from  the  tone  of  his  letters  appeared 
to  have  settled  down.  He  had  taken  a 
small  house,  which  Varvara  Stepanovna 
had  come  from  Oofa  to  keep  for  him. 
Later,  Jonathan  heard  of  Bareetsa  and 
Anna  being  in  Petersburg  to  be  near 
Vanooshka,  who  was  entered  at  the  Uni- 
versity. But  Vanooshka's  time  at  the 
University  was  short;  he  outgrew  his 
strength,  and  was  taken  to  the  Crimea, 
which  he  never  left,  and  he  now  lay  there 
in  a  hill-side  cemetery  overlooking  the  sea. 

But  through  it  all  came  no  news  of  Ye- 
laina.  A  little  over  a  year  ago  Herr 
Julius  had  written  of  the  death  of  Mon- 
sieur Mardoff;  he  had  died  suddenly  in 
one  of  the  corridors  of  the  Imperial  Thea- 
ter, where  he  had  been  in  attendance  on 
a  Grand  Duke.  Upon  the  receipt  of  this 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         239 

letter  Jonathan  wrote  Herr  Julius,  beg- 
ging him  to  endeavor  to  learn  news  of 
Yelaina ;  should  other  means  fail,  he  sug- 
gested that  a  trustworthy  person  might  be 
dispatched  to  Siberia  to  glean  news  on  the 
spot ;  they  could  draw  upon  him  for  what- 
ever means  might  be  needed ;  only  to  send 
him  news,  however  slight,  of  Yelaina. 
But  no  answer  came  to  his  letter,  and 
since  then  no  news  in  any  shape  had 
reached  him  from  Russia.  Under  the  un- 
accountable silence  Jonathan  grew  rest- 
less ;  he  lost  even  the  semblance  of  interest 
in  his  work,  and  after  a  visit  to  Kirkthorp 
had  decided  to  give  the  business,  while  yet 
anything  remained  of  it,  into  the  hands  of 
his  assistants.  And  now  he  had  signed 
the  deed  which  by  the  end  of  the  present 
month  would  put  him,  while  yet  something 
under  forty,  to  one  side,  out  of  harness. 

And  as  he  looked  up  at  the  motionless 
trees,  each  one  so  still  that  they  seemed 
asleep  in  the  damp  September  dusk,  he 
felt  that  another  phase  of  his  life  was  be- 


240         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

ginning;  a  phase  that  might  lead  him  far, 
and  be,  perhaps,  the  last  phase  of  all. 

A  warm  rain  had  begun  to  fall,  and  as 
he  passed  out  of  the  gardens  into  the 
lighted  streets  the  lamps  threw  long  shin- 
ing pathways  before  him  on  the  wet  pave- 
ment. On  turning  into  King  George's 
Place  he  found  that  the  gleaming  reflec- 
tion from  the  lamp  higher  up  the  street 
had  for  companion  a  long,  dark  shadow, 
which,  on  lowering  his  umbrella  to  shade 
his  eyes,  he  saw  was  cast  by  a  dark  figure 
by  his  own  door.  The  man  wore  a  long, 
straight  overcoat  and  soft  felt  hat,  both 
obviously  of  foreign  fashion.  As  Jona- 
than paused  by  the  door  the  figure  turned. 

"Herr  Julius!" 

"Zdrastweety,  Ivan  Daviditch!"  said 
Herr  Julius  stolidly,  raising  his  hat. 

"When — how  long  have  you  been 
here?" 

"I  landed,"  returned  Herr  Julius,  paus- 
ing as  if  to  remember  precisely,  "let  me 
see — it  wass  yesterday." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         241 

"And  you  are  only  here  now!" 

"I  must  first  find  a  lodgment." 

"But  your  lodging  is  here.  You  landed 
yesterday — and  I  not  to  know!" 

By  this  they  had  got  upstairs  to  Jona- 
than's sitting-room,  and  Herr  Julius  was 
placed  in  an  arm-chair  drawn  up  to  the 
fire,  which  Jonathan  was  vigorously  pok- 
ing into  a  blaze. 

"And  have  you — I  mean  you  are  not 
going  off  again — you  are  come — • — " 

"I  wass  in  Koln,"  replied  Herr  Julius 
quietly,  "und  I  wish  to  see  udder  places— 
perhaps  Sud  Africa — so  I  come  on  here." 

"South  Africa?  Yes,  yes.  But  let  me 
see  about  something  to  eat."  So  the 
housekeeper  was  called,  and  a  messenger 
was  dispatched  for  Herr  Julius'  luggage; 
he  was  dispatched  in  a  cab,  but  the  cab 
proved  wholly  unnecessary,  for  Herr 
Julius'  possessions  consisted  only  of  one 
small  rush-woven  bag  but  one  size  larger 
than  a  small  handbag. 

Over  supper  Jonathan  learned  some  of 


242         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

the  history  of  the  past  year.  Varvara 
Stepanovna  was  dead;  she  had  died  more 
than  a  year  ago.  Bareetsa  and  Anna 
were  away  at  the  time,  gone  on  a  long 
journey.  Herr  Julius  appeared  not  quite 
at  ease  in  saying  this,  pausing  frequently 
as  if  to  choose  his  words.  It  was  on  a 
holiday,  and  Varvara  and  he  had  been  to 
one  of  the  gardens;  as  they  were  return- 
ing in  the  evening  she  became  ill — so  ill 
that  he  drove  to  the  nearest  doctor's,  but 
she  died  in  his  arms  before  the  doctor  saw 
her.  "Ach!  I  could  no  longer  bear  to 
look  upon  der  rooms.  I  left  der  paper 
works;  I  lost  myself  for  a  liddle — I  wass 
in  der  hospital."  Jonathan  understood. 

"Did  you  get  my  letter?"  he  asked 
gently. 

"Which  letter?" 

"The  one  I  wrote  you  about  that  time — 
in  which  I  made  a  suggestion." 

"What  for  a  suggestion?" 

"That  you  should  take  steps  to  learn 
news  of  Yelaina  Grigorovna." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         243 

"I  got  no  letter,  I  got  no  suggestion.  I 
wass  in  der  hospital." 

"And  Anna  Andreaovna  and  Ba- 
reetsa?" 

"They — wass  on  a  journey." 

Jonathan  rose  and  went  over  to  the  fire ; 
standing  with  his  back  to  the  room  as  he 
lighted  a  cigar,  he  said — 

"And  Yelaina  Grigorovna — has  noth- 
ing been  heard  of  her?" 

A  large  part  of  the  room  was  reflected 
in  the  mirror  in  front  of  him ;  in  it  he  saw  a 
troubled  look  come  over  Herr  Julius'  face 
as  he  answered  slowly — 

"Yes— a  liddle." 

Jonathan  turned  and  faced  him. 

"Tell  me,"  he  said  simply. 

"It  wass  last  year,"  replied  Herr  Julius, 
nervously  fingering  the  table-things  near 
him;  "it  wass  last  year.  Bareetsa  he 
heard — I  know  not  how — dot  she  wass  in 
a  village — a  village  called  Sorrelka — so 
about  seven  hundred  versts  northeast  of 
Tiumen — und  they  say  she  wass  ill.  Anna 


244         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Andreaovna  say  she  will  go  to  her,  und 
they  set  out.  Varvara  Stepanovna  she 
also  wish  to  go,  but  we  say  no,  the  journey 
will  be  for  her  too  long;  for  they  go  not 
straight,  but  so  about,  und  stop  at  places, 
so  no  remark  shall  be  made.  They  are 
back  in  Petersburg  so  about  a  week  be- 
fore I  leave." 

"They  saw  her?" 

"Yes." 

"She  was  ill?" 

"No,  not  iU— but  changed." 

"Changed!  Did  they  think  to  find  her 
unchanged?"  said  Jonathan  huskily. 
Then,  relighting  his  cigar:  "Did  they 
bring  any  message  from  her?" 

"There  wass  no  message,"  replied  Herr 
Julius  stolidly. 

Jonathan  twisted  a  chair  to  the  fire  and 
sat  down. 

"I  must  go  to  her,"  he  said. 

"So  iss  impossible!" 

"It  is  not ;  I  am  going  to  her." 

"How  will  you  go?" 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         245 

"Go!  A  whole  country  cannot  be 
caged  and  barred  like  a  prison!  Sor- 
relka — seven  hundred  versts  northeast  of 
Tiumen." 

"Ach!  talk  of  it  no  more  to-night;  to- 
morrow you  will  see  it  iss  impossible; 
harm  would  come  of  it." 

"Tell  me  this:  could  my  going  bring 
harm  to  her?" 

Herr  Julius  rose  and  stood  by  Jona- 
than's chair. 

"Ach!  Ivan  Daviditch,  you  are  not 
happy — you  grow  old  quick — but  it  iss  for 
no  use  to  go ;  you  would  haff  no  more  hap- 
piness at  all  left." 

Jonathan  looked  up  affectionately  into 
the  German's  face. 

"As  you  say,  there  is  no  need  to  talk 
about  it  to-night." 

Shortly  before  noon  on  the  following 
day  Jonathan  walked  with,  for  him,  rapid 
steps  along  Jermyn  Street,  and  turned  in 
at  a  shabby  entrance  which  gave  access  on 
the  second  floor  to  a  somewhat  gorgeous 


246         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

suite  of  rooms.  These  were  occupied  by 
a  Mr.  Saintbury  Joseph  Hummill,  whose 
father  was  proprietor  of  The  New  York 
and  Eastern  States  Review,  of  which  jour- 
nal Mr.  Hummill,  junior,  was  the  London 
correspondent.  Mr.  Hummill — a  clean- 
shaven young  man  who,  while  priding  him- 
self upon  being  a  hard-bitted  American, 
was  in  reality  as  impressionable  as  a  child 
• — was  smoking  his  after-breakfast  ciga- 
rette when  his  visitor  was  shown  in.  Jona- 
than's business  lay  too  near  to  his  heart  to 
be  dallied  with,  so  he  made  no  pretense  of 
a  casual  call. 

"Hummill,"  he  said,  taking  a  chair  by 
the  breakfast-table,  "you  used  to  ask  me 
to  write  you  some  papers  about  Russia." 

"Yes.     You  will  do  them?" 

"On  conditions." 

"What  are  they?" 

"You  must  first  hear  my  reasons  for 
making  them.  I  have  a  friend  in  exile — 
in  Siberia — not  in  prison;  no  Nihilism  or 
anything  of  that  sort.  I  must  see  her. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         247 

I  am  going  to  Russia  for  that  purpose — 
you  understand?"  Saintbury  Hummill 
nodded.  "You  know  Russia  is  barred  to 
me  ?  During  the  past  six  years  I  have  ap- 
plied three  times  for  permission  to  return 
to  the  country,  and  each  time  it  has  been 
refused.  It  is  of  no  use  applying  further ; 
besides,  I  do  not  wish  to  bring  my  name 
before  them  just  now.  I  want  to  be  an 
American  citizen  for  a  while,  under  any 
name  you  please.  What  I  wish  you  to 
do  is  this :  Ask  your  people  to  get  a  pass- 
port for  a  member  of  their  staff — an 
American  citizen — to  travel  in  Russia; 
and  you  shall  have  your  articles." 

Saintbury  Hummill  sat  looking  out  of 
the  window,  rather  overdoing  an  affecta- 
tion of  indifference;  he  felt  there  was  more 
in  this  than  had  been  put  into  words,  and 
was  anxious  to  avoid  even  the  appearance 
of  wishing  to  know  more  than  he  was 
meant  to  know.  But  the  thing  hinted  at 
adventure,  perhaps  romance,  and  he  was 
interested. 


248          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"It  might  be  managed,"  he  said  at 
length.  "But  if  the  thing  came  out,  you 
know,  it  would  not  add  to  the  credit  of  the 
Review.  What?" 

"The  risk  is  much  smaller  than  you 
think.  I  shall  take  every  precaution — not 
stop  long  in  one  place;  even  at — at  my 
destination  a  few  hours  perhaps  will  suf- 
fice." 

"Well,"  replied  Hummill,  pushing  the 
cigarettes  across,  "the  Review  owes  you 
something,  you  know;  that  information 
about  the  bogus  Peruvians  was  a  great 
thing.  I  will  put  it  to  my  people." 

"Will  you  cable?" 

"Yes,  and  ask  them  to  cable  their  re- 

ply" 

In  twenty-four  hours  it  came.  The  of- 
fer was  accepted,  and  the  necessary  papers 
were  to  be  sent  on  as  soon  as  possible. 

However,  three  weeks  passed  before 
they  arrived,  but  they  were  not  passed  im- 
patiently so  far  as  Jonathan  was  con- 
cerned. To  know  that  he  was  surely  go- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         249 

ing  to  her  was  enough  in  the  meantime. 
And  a  change  came  over  him.  The 
weather  was  delightful — a  succession  of 
warm,  still  days  of  golden  haze.  He 
found  a  subtle  joy  in  taking  Herr  Julius 
on  little  excursions;  a  joy  in  going  out  to- 
gether in  the  mornings  and  coming  in  to- 
gether at  nights;  little  things  interested 
him  and  a  wider  sympathy  came  for  those 
about  him,  as  he  felt  how  their  lives  would 
go  on  in  daily  routine  of  dull,  unchanging 
needs,  with  no  great  joyous  thing  await- 
ing them  such  as  awaited  him.  The  joy 
was  so  certain  that  he  could  wait  for  it. 

During  the  third  week  he  took  Herr 
Julius  to  Kirkthorp,  where  for  the  first 
two  days  the  latter  remained  obstinately 
taciturn,  proffering  no  remarks  and  an- 
swering monosyllabically.  He  seemed  to 
retire  into  himself  while  he  viewed  his  sur- 
roundings ;  and,  lest  a  word  of  his  might 
disturb  the  gentle  atmosphere  about  him, 
took  shelter  in  moroseness.  Ressy  pro- 
nounced him  "very  German."  On  the 


250          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

third  day  he  unbent,  and  in  a  couple  of 
hours  was  as  one  of  the  household.  He 
interested  himself  in  trivial  matters,  knew 
all  about  housekeeping,  and  advised  upon 
it  with  an  originality  that  kept  Teresa  in 
a  ripple  of  laughter.  Then  he  fell  to  ar- 
guing with  Uncle  Phineas  with  such  genial 
philosophy  that  the  latter  went  about 
simply  beaming  with  friendliness.  Jona- 
than watched  it  with  quiet  joy,  a  strange 
tenderness  in  his  heart,  softened  and 
strengthened  with  the  hope  within  him. 
He  did  not  speak  of  his  coming  journey 
till  the  last  night  of  their  stay,  then,  after 
Herr  Julius  had  retired  for  the  night  and 
they  were  alone  in  the  study,  he  mentioned 
it,  saying  that  he  expected  to  be  back  be- 
fore Christmas.  Teresa  laid  her  hand 
within  his  for  a  moment,  while  Uncle 
Phineas  said,  somewhat  hesitatingly,  that 
he  was  glad  he  was  not  to  be  away  for  long. 
But  later,  when  they  knelt  in  prayers, 
the  old  man  prayed  earnestly  for  guid- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         251 

ance  and  protection  for  him  who  was  as 
his  son;  that  he  might  be  given  strength 
in  spirit  and  body;  that  he  might  go  in 
safety  and  return  in  happiness;  "and  for 
her  who  hath  been  put  into  exile  and  is 
alone,  grant  her,  Lord,  of  Thy  dear 
strength,  for  she  hath  known  both  tribula- 
tion and  sorrow." 

On  their  return  to  King  George's  Place 
the  passport,  vised  and  in  order,  had  ar- 
rived. 

"So,"  said  Herr  Julius,  "then  you  will 
set  out.  Ach !  Ivan  Daviditch,  do  not  go 
— do  not  go  to  Siberia.  It  iss  of  no  use — 
you  will  come  back  ferry  old." 

Jonathan  pressed  the  hand  which  Herr 
Julius  held  out  to  him. 

"I  must  go,"  he  answered.  "Think 
what  these  years  must  have  been  to  her! 
What  have  they  been  to  me  ?  Yes,  I  know 
what  is  said  in  such  cases — unmanly 
wasting  one's  life  for  a  love;  well,  let  it 
be  so  said,  even  though  it  argues  life  to  be 


252         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

a  worthier  thing  than  love.  But  for  eight 
years  life  has  gone  but  poorly  with  me, 
and  now  I  am  going  to  her." 

He  went  to  his  room,  and  Herr  Julius, 
left  alone,  paced  the  floor  moodily.  " Ach ! 
it  will  not  be  goot  for  him — no,  it  will  not 
be  goot  for  him,"  he  muttered. 


XVIII 

AND  now  the  journey  was  begun. 
Dawn  was  breaking  over  the  flats 
of  Holland,  and  Jonathan  sat  watching 
from  the  train  the  canals  and  ditches,  the 
embankments  and  straight  lonely  avenues 
revolve  past  him  as  the  spokes  of  a  wheel; 
feeling  nearer  to  her  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  distance  left  behind  in  the  night; 
for  the  sea  was  passed  and  the  solid  earth 
now  stretched  away  in  one  unbroken 
sweep  to  her.  He  looked  at  the  pink  in 
the  east,  towards  which  he  was  rushing, 
and  the  thought  that  the  sun  now  about 
to  rise  to  him  must  be  to  her  near  its  set- 
ting brought  keenly  home  to  him  the  long, 
long  miles  that  lay  between.  She  would 
not  know  he  was  coming.  He  sat  quite 
still,  with  no  wish  to  move  or  read  or  even 
to  think  clearly,  the  consciousness  that  he 


253 


254         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

was  going  to  her  was  enough.  And  in  the 
slackened  will  of  semi-sleep,  lulled  by  the 
rumble  of  the  wheels,  he  glided  into 
thoughts  of  her  such  as  for  the  past  eight 
years  he  had  not  dared  allow  himself. 

Late  that  night  Berlin  was  reached,  and 
next  morning  Warsaw  left  behind.  At 
Alexandrovna  his  passport — he  was  de- 
scribed as  Jonathan  P.  Sharman,  an 
American  citizen — was  examined  and  re- 
turned without  a  question.  Each  hour 
was  bearing  him  to  her!  Of  the  journey 
back,  when  and  in  what  manner  it  would 
be  made,  he  cared  not  to  think. 

At  Moscow  he  learnt  that  the  boats 
from  Nijni  to  Perm  were  running  only  at 
irregular  intervals,  and  at  any  moment 
might  be  ice-bound.  Already  there  was 
floating  ice  in  the  river,  and  so  uncertain 
was  the  passage  that  since  the  first  of  the 
month — it  was  now  mid-October — the 
boats  had  ceased  carrying  the  mails.  He 
hurried  on — merely  crossing  Moscow  from 
station  to  station — to  find  at  Nijni  the  fol- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         255 

lowing  morning  that  things  were  in  his 
favor.  A  boat  was  just  about  to  start; 
its  name,  The  Morning,  attracted  his 
glance  as  he  went  on  board,  as  in  harmony 
with  his  hopes. 

Six  days  and  nights  upon  the  water,  of 
pant  and  struggle,  of  slackening  speed 
and  going  ahead,  of  black  forests  and 
dreary  steppe — and  Perm  was  reached. 
Another  thirty-six  hours  of  railway  ease 
across  the  Oorals — then  Tiumen,  the  end 
of  the  railway — Siberia. 

So  far  he  had  traveled  on  without  a 
break.  Now,  however,  it  would  be  wiser 
to  move  more  slowly;  to  show  no  sign  of 
haste  nor  of  his  journey  having  a  definite 
point  in  view.  Herr  Julius  had  described 
Sorrelka  as  lying  about  seven  hundred 
versts  northeast  of  Tiumen;  and  upon  in- 
quiry Jonathan  was  told  that  the  roads 
were  good  and  the  snow  hard  and  as  yet 
not  too  deep.  He  calculated  that  he  could 
reach  it  in  about  three  and  a  half  days. 
But  haste  now  would  be  rashness,  and  he 


256         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

was  under  obligation  to  Saintbury  Hum- 
mill  to  use  every  precaution  possible.  No, 
he  would  be  patient,  and  allowing  a  week 
to  cover  the  distance,  would  abide  that 
night  in  Tiumen.  So  leisurely  he  set 
about  the  purchase  of  a  traveling  sledge, 
and  by  the  afternoon  his  purchase  stood  in 
the  squalid  courtyard  of  the  hotel,  a  rough, 
strong,  leather-hooded  thing.  As  he  ex- 
amined it  that  evening  it  seemed,  even  as 
himself,  eager  to  be  in  motion,  eager  to  be 
on  its  journey  away  to  the  northeast. 
Only  seven  hundred  versts  away — just 
there  where  the  stars  were  beginning  to 
shine.  Why  not  call  for  horses  and  let 
each  hour  of  the  night  bear  him  nearer  to 
her?  But  his  promise  to  Hummill! 
With  less  speed  his  end  would  be  the  more 
surely  gained. 

It  was  afternoon  of  the  following  day 
before  he  left  Tiumen.  The  police,  upon 
his  arrival,  had  called  for  his  passport  and 
had  been  tardy  in  returning  it,  but  now  the 
sledge  journey,  the  final  stage,  was  begun. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         257 

And  day  followed  day  of  vast  distances; 
of  frozen  marsh  and  river;  of  distant  vil- 
lage and  lonely,  snow-swept  plain.  Time 
ceased  to  be  marked  by  hours- — the  chang- 
ing of  horses  and  drivers  alone  making  any 
division.  Tobolsk  was  left  behind,  and 
two  days  later  Jonathan  began  guardedly 
to  make  inquiries  of  the  drivers  as  to  the 
whereabouts  of  Sorrelka.  But  none  of 
them  knew  it  or  had  even  heard  of  it — un- 
til Tobolsk  was  four  days  behind,  when, 
changing  horses  towards  the  close  of  the 
day,  the  driver  said  he  had  heard  of  it,  but 
was  very  hazy  as  to  its  direction.  By  the 
following  morning,  however,  he  was  well 
within  the  radius  of  its  name,  and  by  mid- 
day the  driver  said  it  was  about  fifty  versts 
away.  He  had  been  to  it  last  year,  said 
the  Tartar,  as  he  harnessed  up  the  fresh 
horses,  and  remembered  it  for  two  reasons, 
one,  that  he  had  driven  a  troika  there,  and 
people  did  not  often  pass  that  way  with 
troikas— the  folk  going  that  road  were 
"the  unfortunates,"  and  they  mostly  went 


258         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

on  foot.  Did  the  barin  wish  to  go  to  Sor- 
relka?  The  road  was  bad,  but  he  knew 
the  way,  and  his  horses  could  do  it  in  one 
stage. 

"Yes,  to  Sorrelka,"  said  Jonathan. 

The  sun  had  set,  though  it  was  yet  quite 
light,  when  the  driver,  pointing  ahead  with 
his  whip,  said,  ''Sorrelka." 

The  horses  were  pulled  up.  Slightly 
below,  at  the  foot  of  some  sloping  ground, 
Jonathan  could  see  an  irregular  cluster  of 
wooden  huts  through  which  one  long  wide 
street  cut.  At  the  far  end  of  this  there  ap- 
peared to  be  a  few  houses  of  a  better  class ; 
one,  at  least,  having  its  four-sided  roof 
painted  red,  and  with,  as  Jonathan 
thought,  green-painted  shutters ;  but  these 
were  almost  lost  among  the  mass  of  poorer 
dwellings.  The  general  effect  was  of  two 
straggling  lines  of  gray  hovels  set  on  a 
wind-blown  sea  of  frozen  steppe. 

For  a  few  moments  he  sat  silently  gaz- 
ing on  the  scene.  Could  it  be  that  Ye- 
laina  had  lived  through  eight  years  of  life 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         259 

in  such  a  place?  A  feeling  came  that  she 
was  not  there — could  not  be  there!  He 
turned  to  the  driver  and  asked  if  there  was 
a  post-station  where  they  could  put  up. 

"No,"  replied  the  man,  but  there  were 
private  horses  to  be  had.  Constantine 
Ivanitch  had  good  horses,  he  knew.  He 
had  put  up  there  last  year  when  he  had 
brought  a  barin  and  barinya  here. 

"A  barin  and  barinya?" 

"Yes ;  they  went  to  that  house  there  with 
the  red  roof.  They  kept  me  overnight, 
and  I  drove  them  back  to  Kushlinka  next 
morning.  I  remember  because  all  the  way 
back  the  barinya  was  weeping." 

"Go  on  to  Constantine  Ivanitch's,"  said 
Jonathan  shortly.  The  barin  and  barinya 
could  only  have  been  Anna  and  Bareetsa, 
and  the  red-roofed  house  was  hers!  So 
certain  did  he  feel  of  this  that  he  decided 
to  make  no  further  inquiry,  but  go  on  at 
once  to  the  house.  A  few  minutes  later 
the  sledge  was  drawn  up  in  the  snow- 
heaped  courtyard  of  the  horsekeeper,  and 


260         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Jonathan  was  making  his  way  up  the  silent 
street. 

There  was  still  light  enough  to  enable  al- 
most the  entire  length  of  the  road  to  be 
seen,  for  the  sun  had  set  in  unusual  splen- 
dor, and  overhead  the  rare  and  wonderful 
green  sheen  of  a  northern  sky  was  irradiat- 
ing the  squalid  huts  with  so  transforming 
a  glory  that  for  the  moment  they  seemed 
other  than  the  uncared-for  dwelling-places 
of  hopelessness.  The  entrance  to  the  red- 
roofed  house  was  by  means  of  a  short  flight 
of  wooden  steps  leading  from  a  courtyard. 
The  door  at  the  top  was  padded  and  cov- 
ered with  coarse  canvas  on  the  outside,  so 
that  knocking  with  the  hand  upon  it  caused 
little  effect.  At  length  a  small  girl  ap- 
peared from  one  of  the  outbuildings  across 
the  yard. 

"The  door  is  open,  Feodra  Ivanitch;  go 
in,"  she  cried,  as  she  came  toward  him. 
Halfway  up  the  steps  she  stopped  with  a 
look  of  surprise  on  her  face.  "Oh,  I 
thought  it  was  Feodra  Ivanitch  for  his  eve- 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         261 

ning  game  of  cards,"  she  cried.  Then 
without  asking  what  he  wanted,  she  pushed 
open  the  door  and  going  along  the  inner 
passage  called  through  the  open  door  of  a 
room  from  which  came  the  faint  glow  of  a 
lamp :  "Here's  a  gentleman." 

Jonathan  followed  and  stood  looking 
over  her  shoulder  into  the  room.  Beneath 
the  lamp,  suspended  from  a  beam  of  the 
ceiling,  stood  a  rough  table  upon  which 
was  a  samovar  and  tea-things ;  behind  the 
samovar  was  seated  a  woman  of  perhaps 
forty,  in  loose,  untidy  attire,  who  rose 
hastily  at  the  little  maid's  announcement 
and  peered  anxiously  into  the  passage. 
Jonathan  moved  into  the  room  and  stood 
within  the  circle  of  the  lamp,  while  the 
woman,  with  one  hand  gripping  the  table 
to  steady  herself,  stared  at  him  in  amaze- 
ment. 

"I— I  am  seeking  Madame  Mardova," 
said  Jonathan,  with  difficulty  controlling 
his  voice  to  steadiness. 

The    woman   half-turned   and   hastily 


262         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

glanced  into  a  part  of  the  room  beyond  the 
circle  of  the  lamp.  Following  her  glance 
Jonathan  saw  a  figure  half-sitting,  half- 
lying  on  a  low  chair  and  supported  at  one 
side  by  cushions  against  the  wall.  She 
wore  a  loose,  untidy  cotton  wrapper;  but 
in  spite  of  the  heaviness  of  figure  he  knew 
that  it  was  Yelaina.  He  made  a  step  to- 
ward her,  when  the  woman  raised  her  hand 
to  keep  him  back. 

"Stop!"  she  said  hurriedly.  "Who  are 
you?  What  do  you  want?" 

"I  have  come  from  England — to  find 
Madame  Mardova — I  am  an  old  friend  of 
hers." 

A  softer  look  came  into  the  woman's 
face. 

"Sit  down,"  she  said,  lowering  herself 
unsteadily  into  her  chair,  though  still  keep- 
ing her  arm  raised  as  a  barrier  until  she 
saw  that  he,  too,  was  seated.  "Is  your 
name  Ivan  Daviditch — Ivan  Daviditch 
Forty?" 

Jonathan  bowed. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         263 

"Ah,  then  I  know;  you  are  an  old  lover 
of  hers."  The  woman  spoke  without  any 
trace  of  offensiveness. 

"Madame  Mardova's  husband  was  liv- 
ing when  I  knew  her,"  said  Jonathan 
lamely. 

"There  is  no  need  for  social  lies  here — 
the  place  has  that  good ;  lies  are  of  no  value 
here,  so  we  do  not  use  them.  I  heard  your 
name  a  year  ago — though  I  have  heard  it 
often  enough  since.  You  were  her  lover, 
I  say." 

"As  you  will,"  returned  Jonathan  husk- 
ily. "She  has  spoken  of  me,  you  say?" 

"I  should  think  almost  daily  for  a  year 
past.  But  tell  me,  how  and  why  have  you 
come  here — where  are  your  horses?" 

"At  Constantine's,  lower  down  the 
street." 

"You  know,  of  course,  you  will  not  be 
allowed  to  stay  here?" 

"I  am  aware  of  that— I  did  not  think  to 
stay." 

"Still,  the  Ispravnick  is  at  another  vil- 


264          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

lage  today  and  will  not  be  back  till  the 
morning;  you  will  be  right  till  then." 

She  brought  a  glass  and  saucer  from  a 
cupboard  and  handed  him  some  tea. 

"Don't  waken  her,  please,"  she  said, 
motioning  towards  where  Yelaina  lay.  "I 
will  see  about  some  supper — we  don't 
starve  here,  you  know ;  and  there  is  a  room 
we  can  offer  you."  She  moved  unsteadily 
to  the  door.  "Now,  please,  don't  wake  her 
— it  would  be  of  no  use." 

Jonathan  rose  and  quietly  pushed  aside 
his  chair. 

"Tell  me — is  she  ill?"  he  asked  huskily. 

"She  is  well  enough — but  we  don't  keep 
Petersburg  manners  here;  a  few  years  of 
this  life  and  one's  nerves  call  for  something 
more  soothing  than  Petersburg  polish." 
The  woman  muttered  this  over  her  shoul- 
der as  she  left  the  room.  Her  voice  was  so 
thick  and  the  words  so  ill-pronounced  that 
Jonathan  only  half  grasped  their  sense ;  he 
gathered,  however,  that  Yelaina  was  well ; 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         265 

and  as  the  woman's  steps  went  shuffling 
down  the  passage,  he  noiselessly  crossed 
the  floor  and  stood  before  the  sleeping  fig- 
ure in  the  chair.  Perhaps  his  nerves  were 
overstrained  by  the  sleepless  nights  of  the 
long  sledge  journey,  but  as  he  stood  tears 
gathered  in  his  eyes,  brimmed  over  and  fell 
upon  the  floor  at  her  feet.  She  lay  in  a 
posture  of  utter  unconsciousness — one 
foot  outstretched,  the  other  bent  beneath 
her  chair ;  one  hand  was  placed  beneath  her 
cheek  on  the  cushion,  the  other  lay  life- 
lessly on  her  lap ;  the  sleeves  of  her  wrap- 
per, edged  with  tattered  lace,  fell  wide 
from  the  elbow,  leaving  the  lower  arm 
bare.  The  whole  figure  was  heavier  and 
fuller — much  fuller;  this  was  even  more 
noticeable  in  her  face  and  throat,  from 
which  almost  all  trace  of  the  old  gracious- 
ness  of  chiseling  had  gone,  while  her  mouth 
— the  once  beautiful  mouth — seemed  to  be 
swollen  and  twisted,  though  possibly  this 
was  partly  caused  by  her  posture;  from 


266          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

the  lower  corner  of  the  pale  lips  a  tiny 
streak  of  moisture  oozed,  making  a  dark 
stain  on  the  cushion. 

An  hour  passed,  Jonathan  sat  by  the 
table  and  watched  her  sleep;  his  own 
breathing  contracted  in  his  strained  listen- 
ing to  hers.  The  other  woman  had  not  re- 
turned, and  there  was  no  sound  of  any  one 
moving  in  the  house.  Another  hour 
passed,  and  the  stillness  and  the  silence  so 
worked  upon  him  that  he  felt  unable  any 
longer  to  bear  it.  He  rose  and  knelt  by 
her  chair. 

"Yelaina!"  he  said  softly,  bending  over 
her  and  gently  touching  her  lips  with  his 
own.  She  moved  her  face  and  slightly  al- 
tered her  position,  but  did  not  wake. 
He  knelt  by  her  for  some  minutes  before 
he  slowly  went  back  to  his  seat  by  the 
table.  A  doubt  which  had  been  subcon- 
sciously with  him  during  the  silence,  a 
thing,  perhaps,  born  of  the  other  woman's 
manner  as  she  had  left  the  room,  was  now 
a  certainty.  He  knew  Yelaina's  sleep  to 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         267 

be  the  heavy  unconsciousness  of  intoxica- 
tion. 

There  was  a  shuffling  in  the  passage; 
the  woman,  followed  by  the  little  girl,  was 
bringing  in  supper. 

"Perhaps  we  might  wake  her  now,"  she 
said;  and  having  put  down  the  tray  she 
gently  shook  Yelaina's  arm. 

"Stay,"  whispered  Jonathan,  "you  had 
better  prepare  her  first  for  my  being  here. 
Tell  her  I  have  been  sitting  by  her — tell 
her  I  have  come  just  as  I  was  eight  years 
ago." 

He  went  out  into  the  passage ;  he  opened 
the  outer  door  and  stood  looking  out  into 
the  night.  Fine  snow  blew  against  his 
face,  and  the  keen  air  rushed  noisily 
through  the  house.  The  woman's  voice 
called  out  for  the  door  to  be  closed;  so 
closing  it  he  remained  standing  in  a  shaded 
part  of  the  passage.  He  could  notice  its 
detail.  While  the  thick  logs  of  the  walls 
had  been  left  in  their  original  roughness, 
the  packing  of  moss  stemmed  between 


268         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

each  log  looking  brown  and  dusty,  there 
yet  at  one  time  had  been  some  attempt  at 
decoration.  The  floor  had  been  painted 
with  yellow  polish,  evidently  not  renewed 
for  years  past,  and  it  was  trodden  through 
to  the  bare  wood  in  little  tracks  leading  to 
the  various  doors.  He  found  himself 
counting  the  latter ;  on  the  left  there  were 
three;  one,  belonging  to  the  room  where 
he  had  been,  standing  open  and  through 
which  came  occasional  sounds  of  a  subdued 
voice.  On  the  right  he  counted  four,  all 
at  equal  distances  apart,  probably  open- 
ing into  sleeping-rooms.  They  all  showed 
signs  of  some  one's  care,  for  they  had  once 
been  painted  white,  though  the  paint  was 
now  almost  gone,  and  were  fitted  with 
heavy,  curved  brass  handles,  such  as  in 
England  one  finds  on  the  doors  of  pros- 
perous insurance  offices. 

The  woman  appeared,  beckoning  to 
him. 

"She  doesn't  understand,  or  doesn't  be- 
lieve, I  don't  know  which." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         269 

He  followed  her  into  the  room.  Ye- 
laina  was  standing  with  one  hand  support- 
ing herself  against  the  wall.  She  looked 
at  him  wildly,  her  mouth  opening  and  shut- 
ting rapidly,  though  no  sound  came  from 
her  lips.  He  took  her  in  his  arms. 

"Yelaina — speak  to  me!" 

She  lay  heavily  in  his  arms,  her  eyes  gaz- 
ing vacantly  over  his  shoulder  at  the  oppo- 
site wall,  her  mouth  still  working  convul- 
sively. Then  she  pushed  him  aside. 

"Masha,  come  here,  I  want  you." 

The  woman  approached ;  Yelaina  clung 
to  her  arm  and  slowly  pointed  to  where 
Jonathan  stood. 

"Don't  you  know  him?"  asked  Masha 
gently.  "It  is  the  Englishman  you  have 
told  me  about." 

"No— he  is  older.  Take  me  to  my 
room — I  want  to  go  to  my  room." 

Masha  took  her  gently  by  the  arm;  but 
after  a  moment  was  as  gently  pushed  aside 
again,  and  Yelaina  held  out  her  arms  va- 
cantly to  the  room. 


270         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

"You  lead  her,"  whispered  Masha,  "I 
will  show  you  the  way." 

Tenderly  he  placed  his  arm  about  her 
and  led  her  across  the  room ;  as  they  passed 
where  the  light  of  the  lamp  fell  brightest 
she  stopped  and,  raising  her  hand  slowly, 
touched  his  face. 

"Yelaina,  do  you  not  know  me? — speak 
to  me,"  he  said  gently,  looking  into  her 
face  when  they  had  reached  the  door  of  the 
room  across  the  passage. 

"Leave  her  for  to-night,"  whispered 
Masha  from  within  the  room;  so  he  left 
her.  But  a  sound  made  him  turn;  she  had 
sunk  to  the  floor  and  lay  shivering  in  a 
crouching  attitude.  They  ran  to  her  and 
together  bore  her  to  the  little  bed  that 
stood  beneath  the  sloping  ceiling. 

"She  will  be  all  right  in  the  morning; 
leave  her  with  me,"  said  Masha,  who 
seemed  now  to  be  clear-headed  and  prac- 
tical. Following  him  from  the  room  she 
pointed  to  the  door  further  along  the  pas- 
sage. "That  is  your  room ;  you  will  find  a 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         271 

light  there,  but  you  had  better  put  it  out 
as  soon  as  possible;  had  our  Ispravnick 
been  at  home  we  should  have  had  him  here 
before  this.  Good-night." 

The  room  that  Masha  indicated  was 
furnished  with  a  low,  narrow  bed  and  a 
couple  of  chairs.  Upon  one  of  the  latter 
stood  a  lighted  candle,  which,  remember- 
ing the  warning,  Jonathan  at  once  extin- 
guished. A  faint  sheen  from  the  snow, 
coming  in  through  the  curtainless  window, 
relieved  the  room  from  complete  darkness. 
He  groped  his  way  to  the  chair  by  the  bed, 
and  in  the  shimmering  pearly  darkness 
sat  down  to  think,  conscious  that  he  was 
achingly  weary.  It  would  be,  perhaps, 
hardly  true  to  say  that  he  had  experienced 
any  shock ;  he  knew  too  well  the  inevitable 
outcome — of tenest  the  merciful  outcome— 
of  exile  in  these  villages  of  isolation. 
When  men  of  strong  fiber  were  soon 
broken,  what  hope  was  there  for  a  woman's 
frailer  nerves  and  body?  He  knew  that 
to  more  than  half  of  the  women  sent  there 


272         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

a  few  years  brought  the  merciful  ease  of 
madness;  while  almost  all  were  sooner  or 
later  broken  with  a  hysteria  that  was  little 
short  of  madness.  His  heart  rose  in  re- 
bellion against  the  systems  of  men.  Why 
should  one  living  being  be  crushed  and 
broken  to  others'  creed  of  right  and 
wrong?  Man,  the  individual,  loved  jus- 
tice and  not  oppression ;  it  was  man  in  the 
mass,  in  his  self-preserving  fear  and  blind 
will  to  protect  that  timorous  mass,  who 
was  ruthless !  It  was  not  Yelaina  he  had 
found,  but  a  thing,  once  a  beautiful,  almost 
perfect  bit  of  life,  that  had  been  bruised 
and  crushed  into  an  ill-fitting  mold.  In 
Jonathan's  heart  was  no  lessening  of  his 
love  for  her;  he  was  only  resolutely  re- 
solved to  protect  and  save  her;  and  in  his 
brain  was  slowly  formed  a  scheme  to  take 
her  away  from  this  devastating  place. 
And  his  old  clearness  of  purpose  returned 
to  him.  Before  he  lay  down  on  the  bed  he 
had  shaped  his  plans  into  detail.  It  was 
unlikely  that  he  would  be  allowed  to  stay 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         273 

beyond  a  few  hours  next  morning,  indeed 
it  would  be  unwise  to  do  so;  unwise  to  be 
seen  by  the  Ispravnick.     He  must  go  back 
to  Petersburg  and  find  Bareetsa.     He  was 
thankful  now  that  he  had  asked  Herr 
Julius  to  stay  on  at  King  George's  Place 
till  his  return,  for  now  he  could  wire  there 
for     Bareetsa's     address.     Once    before 
Bareetsa  had  procured  a  passport,  and 
could  doubtless  do  so  again.     It  would,  of 
course,  be  safer  to  return  to  England  and 
make  the  journey  to  Siberia  via  Japan  and 
Vladivostock,  but  time  made  that  impos- 
sible; he  must  come  back  by  the  shortest 
way.     His  present  passport  would  remain 
good  for  six  months,  after  which  it  would 
have  to  be  supplemented  by  a  Russian  one, 
with  the  further  risk  of  a  special  permit  to 
leave  the  country.     No,  not  a  day  must  be 
lost;  he  must  return  at  once!    Yelaina, 
warned  when  to  expect  him,  could  easily  at 
night  slip  out  to  him  waiting  for  her  out- 
side the  gates.     Other  clothes  for  her  he 
would  bring  with  him,  and  then  as  his  wife 


274         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

they  would  travel  together  openly.  Bet- 
ter not  go  to  Vladivostock,  that  might  be 
dangerous;  there  should  be  little  danger, 
however,  in  crossing  into  Manchuria,  and 
thence  to  Pekin,  where  they  would  stay 
only  long  enough  for  their  marriage  at 
the  Consulate ;  and  then — the  wide  sea  be- 
fore them. 


XIX 

THE  late  dawn  had  broken  some 
hours  when  a  touch  upon  his  arm 
awoke  him ;  a  glass  of  tea  and  some  ring- 
biscuits  had  been  put  on  the  chair  by  his 
bed,  and  near  the  door,  but  half -turned  to- 
wards him,  stood  Yelaina.  He  sprang 
up,  and  before  she  could  reach  the  door 
caught  her  in  his  arms.  For  a  moment  she 
shivered  under  his  kisses  on  her  face  and 
hair,  then  struggling  free  she  stood  shrink- 
ing by  the  wall. 

"I  did  not  mean  to  see  you  again,"  she 
said,  "but  Masha  told  me  you  had  not 
stirred,  though  it  is  past  ten,  and  I  grew 
afraid — I  brought  you  some  tea." 

For  a  while  he  could  not  speak;  his 
heart  was  beating  up  into  his  throat;  she 
was  the  Yelaina  of  old  again.  The  marks 
of  the  past  eight  years  were  softened  by 

275 


276         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

the  shadow  in  which  she  stood;  her  hair, 
showing  only  a  few  threads  of  silver,  was 
coiled  in  the  old  way ;  instead  of  the  wrap- 
per of  the  night  before  she  wore  a  plain 
dark  dress  relieved  by  a  knot  of  pink  rib- 
bon at  the  throat. 

She  moved  toward  the  door. 

"Do  not  go — Yelaina — see,  I  will  stand 
here  and  will  not  even  touch  you  if  you 
wish  it  so,"  he  said  pleadingly. 

She  hesitated,  then  with  her  eyes  upon 
the  floor  slowly  returned  within  the 
shadow  of  the  wall. 

"Why  have  you  come?"  she  asked  in  a 
low  voice. 

"Why  have  I  left  you  so  long,  Yelaina? 
Why  did  I  not  come  sooner?  Rather 
blame  me  for  that.  It  is  only  a  month 
since  I  knew  where  you  were." 

"I  ought  to  thank  you — I  think  I  do 
thank  you — but  it  can  do  no  good." 

"Yelaina,  we  are  going  to  be  together 
now — we  are  going  away  together." 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         277 

She  half -raised  her  eyes,  but  dropped 
them  again  with  a  slight  tremor  of  the  lids, 
and  stood  motionless.  ' 

"Listen,  we  must  get  away  from  here; 
we  are  going  to  get  away.  I  will  be  back 
here  in  even  less  than  a  month's  time  and 
you  must  be  ready  for  me !" 

"You  will  not  return.  You  will  never 
come  back  here — and  I  do  not  wish  it — you 
do  not  know." 

"I  think  I  do,"  he  said  gently.  "But 
you  are  ill — if  you  had  not  been  brave,  as  I 
knew  you  would  be,  you  could  not  have 
lived  through  these  dreadful  years." 

"No,  you  do  not  know,"  she  said,  speak- 
ing in  a  dull,  level  voice;  "perhaps  it  was 
the  silence  and  the  distance;  I  tried  to  be 
brave;  I  made  a  garden  and  had  flowers, 
I — I  painted  the  rooms — but  nothing  mat- 
tered— only  the  silence  and  the  long, 
dreadful  nights,  when  I  was  afraid  to 
breathe  or  move  lest  something  heard. 
Then  Masha  came." 


278          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

He  made  a  movement  towards  her,  but 
seeing  her  shrink  from  him  remained 
where  he  was,  saying  hurriedly — 

"See,  I  am  not  going  back  to  England, 
only  to  Petersburg  for  our  passports  and 
to  make  arrangements;  I  will  send  you 
word  and  after  dark  you  will  steal  out  to 
me  at  the  gates;  you  need  bring  nothing 
with  you — I  shall  have  everything.  And 
we  will  travel  openly  and  cross  into  Man- 
churia, and  at  the  first  British  Consulate 
we  will  be  married." 

"You  will  not  return;  I  do  not  wish  it," 
she  repeated,  "I  would  rather  you  had 
never  come.  But  perhaps  even  that  does 
not  matter  now.  Yes.  I  have  been  ill ;  I 
have  watched  the  crosses  grow  out  there 
and  prayed  that  mine  might  be  the  next — 
but  I  gave  up  praying — good  and  ill  are 
but  names  to  me  now." 

She  leaned  her  shoulder  against  the  wall 
while  tears  trickled  down  into  the  corners 
of  her  mouth.  She  appeared  faint;  he 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         279 

sprang  to  her  and  took  her  in  his  arms. 
A  stealthy  knocking  came  at  the  door; 
Masha's  voice  was  whispering  that  the 
Ispravnick  had  come  demanding  to  know 
who  was  in  the  house.  "I  told  him  an 
Englishman  passing  through  the  village, 
but  he  wants  the  passport !" 

"Tell  him  my  things  are  at  the  horse- 
keeper's,  my  papers  are  in  order;  ask 
him  to  wait  for  me  there,"  Jonathan 
called. 

"Go — go,"  she  said,  looking  up  in  ter- 
ror. 

"You  must  come  now,"  Masha  was 
whispering. 

"Tell  me  that  you  understand  I  will  re- 
turn, Yelaina — tell  me  you  believe  it!" 

"Go — go,"  she  moaned. 

"Tell  me  that  you  believe  me!"  he  cried 
again,  almost  fiercely. 

"I  believe  that  if  we  are  both  alive  you 
will  return,"  she  answered. 

The    door   was    flung   open   and   the 


280          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

Ispravnick  stood  in  the  doorway,  and  a 
moment  later  she  was  standing  in  the  room 
alone,  dazed  and  shivering,  a  last  kiss 
stinging  on  her  lips.  She  drooped  into  a 
chair  and  watched  his  figure  go  down  the 
street.  Half-an-hour  later  she  saw  a 
sledge  come  from  the  horsekeeper's  and 
pass  out  through  the  village  gate ;  her  gaze 
followed  it  until  it  passed  beyond  the  line 
where  the  snow  and  sky  met. 

The  house  was  as  silent  as  the  deserted 
street.  From  time  to  time  little  eddies  of 
air  outside  swept  the  whiter  patches  of 
more  recent  snow  in  curving  races  along 
the  beaten  brown  ruts  of  the  road,  and  in- 
visibly stirred  a  loosened  pane  in  the  case- 
ment with  a  sound  which  but  punctuated 
the  silence.  The  gray  day  moved  on. 
During  the  afternoon  a  sound  of  low 
chanting  came  suddenly  from  lower  down 
the  street,  neither  rising  nor  falling  but 
monotonously  keeping  time  to  the  tramp 
of  tired  men.  A  batch  of  convicts  were 
chanting  the  Milosirdnaya  as  they  passed 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         281 

through  the  village.     The  charity  hymn 
for  alms  came  as  a  litany  into  the  room. 

"  Help,  oh  my  brothers,  help  the  'unfortunates,' 
Lord  God  look  down  on  us;  lighten  the  road, 
The  dark  road  of  Siberia."  1 

Opposite  the  window  one  of  the  gang 
broke  from  the  ranks  holding  out  a  ragged 
cap  for  alms ;  but  the  window  was  sealed, 
and  Yelaina  could  only  shrink  back  into 
the  shadow.  And  the  hymn  died  away  as 
she  heard  the  heavy  wooden  gate  at  the  top 
of  the  street  swing  to  as  the  convicts  passed 
out  upon  the  steppe. 

In  her  movement  back  from  the  window 
her  hand  caught  the  knot  of  ribbon  at  her 
throat,  and  but  slightly  fastened  as  it 
was,  it  fluttered  to  the  ground.  That 
morning  on  first  awaking  and  realizing 
that  Jonathan  was  really  come,  had  slept 
under  the  same  roof,  that  shortly  she  would 
see  him  and  hear  again  the  well-remem- 

i  From  a  translation  by  Mr.  Harry  De  Windt,  who  has 
kindly  allowed  the  author  to  use  his  lines. 


282         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

bered  manner  of  his  speech  that  she  loved 
so  well,  it  seemed  to  Yelaina  as  if  all  the 
misery  of  these  eight  years  had  never  been, 
so  little  had  they  power  to  touch  her  now 
that  he  was  come.  She  felt  almost  as  of 
old.  As  a  woman  she  knew  how  her 
beauty  had  touched  him,  and  though  she 
no  longer  could  be  beautiful,  she  would  go 
to  him  as  much  like  the  Yelaina  of  old  as 
she  could  make  herself.  Out  of  her 
slender  stock  of  draperies  which  she  had 
brought  with  her  one  gown  of  dark  ma- 
terial alone  remained.  This  she  brought 
from  a  box  and  with  a  few  touches  it  was 
made  to  fit  her  figure  as  at  first.  She 
coiled  up  her  hair  in  the  old  way ;  in  spite 
of  its  touches  of  silver  it  was  still  abundant 
enough  heavily  to  shade  her  ears.  On 
surveying  herself  she  decided  that  the  dark 
dress  needed  a  relief  of  color ;  so  she  sought 
out  her  remaining  remnants  of  ribbon  and 
formed  them  into  a  loose  knot  of  pink 
which  she  fastened  at  her  throat.  The  box 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         283 

further  produced  a  pair  of  slippers- 
things  with  paste  buckles  and  arching  in- 
steps ;  and  as  she  left  the  room  more  than 
the  mere  memory  of  her  old  gracious 
beauty  went  with  her. 

It  was  only  after  the  meager  breakfast 
had  been  eaten  and  Masha  had  done  ex- 
claiming and  kissing  her  and  had  left  her, 
when  she  was  sitting  listening  and  waiting 
for  sounds  of  Jonathan  stirring,  that  the 
past  began  to  take  on  a  new  aspect  to  her. 
The  intoxication  of  the  previous  night  was 
no  isolated  thing.  For  more  than  a  year 
now  no  day  had  worn  to  afternoon  without 
finding  her  more  or  less  under  the  influ- 
ence of  vodka — not  the  corn-brandy  of 
the  towns,  but  a  crude,  biting  potato  spirit, 
the  only  spirit  within  reach  of  purchase. 
Some  months,  perhaps  a  year,  before 
Masha  had  come  the  haunting  fear  of  mad- 
ness had  come  to  Yelaina.  The  hysteria 
which  had  come  about  the  end  of  her  first 
year  of  exile,  in  spite  of  a  brave  fight 


284         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

against  it,  slowly,  month  by  month,  had  in- 
creased its  hold  upon  her.  For  a  long 
while  she  had  been  able  to  control  it  and 
keep  it  back  during  the  early  part  of  the 
day,  but  the  strain  of  the  changeless  after- 
noons and  the  nervous  terror  of  the  silent 
nights  left  her  weakened  body  less  and  less 
resistant ;  and  her  morning  hours  of  control 
were  slowly  lessened  until  no  hour  of  relief 
in  the  twenty-four  was  certainly  left  her. 
A  little  later  exhaustion  brought  a  rare 
day  of  relief,  when  she  would  lie  quiescent, 
lethargic,  and  physically  unable  to  move. 
It  was  during  one  of  these  intervals  that 
she  realized  how  near  she  must  be  to  mad- 
ness. The  thought  brought  with  it  no 
sense  of  physical  fear,  but  the  overwrought 
brain  saw  another  dread;  if  she  became 
mad  what  might  not  happen?  what  might 
she  not  do?  and  with  only  hardened  men 
to  watch  her  madness.  In  her  weakened 
state  this  dread  was  magnified,  and  it 
haunted  her.  Then  Masha  came,  an  exile 
who  had  found  means  of  lulling  quivering 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         285 

nerves  to  rest.  And  among  exiles  Yelaina 
was  rich,  and  potato  spirit  could  be  had  for 
money.  So  day  after  day  the  rebellious 
nerves  were  stilled.  There  was  no  sense 
of  sin  in  it  nor  of  any  shrinking  or  falling 
from  duty;  it  was  simply  the  sole  weapon 
she  could  command  by  which  she  might 
hope  for  awhile  to  beat  back  the  awful 
thing  which  haunted  her — for  awhile  her 
reason  might  be  spared  her.  If  by  man's 
laws  it  was  sin,  then  as  sin  must  be  counted 
the  anaesthesia  of  the  surgeon's  table. 
But  beyond  man's  radius  his  empyrical 
standards  fail.  And  her  existence  now 
was  a  thing  unto  herself  alone;  a  suffering 
something  within  the  narrow  space  of  her 
body.  So,  as  she  was  conscious  of  no  sin, 
her  moral  being,  however  it  might  be  with 
the  physical  part  of  her,  suffered  no  taint. 

But  now  unexpectedly  touched  by  the 
world  again,  sitting  nervously  listening 
for  sounds  of  movement  from  the  loved 
room,  she  began  to  judge  herself  by  the 
standards  of  the  world  she  had  deemed 


286         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

forgotten;  and  things  took  on  a  changed 
aspect.  For  awhile  it  overwhelmed  and 
stunned  her.  But  her  newness  of  vision 
magnified  what  she  looked  at.  What  be- 
fore had  appeared  sinless  now  frowned 
upon  her  as  degradation  and  shame.  It 
pierced  her  through  and  through,  detached 
words  broke  from  her  lips;  she  sprang  to 
her  feet  with  closed  hands  pressed  to 
her  cheeks.  "What  have  I  done?"  she 
moaned.  Sinking  again  into  her  chair  she 
flung  her  arms  across  the  table  and  hid  her 
face  in  almost  unbearable  anguish.  She 
was  a  degraded  drunkard,  she  told  herself. 
At  least  it  was  still  hers  that  her  degrada- 
tion was  unto  herself  alone ;  she  could  still 
keep  any  other  from  bearing  taint  of  it. 
She  did  not  pause  to  remember  that  the 
mere  odor  of  the  thing  she  had  daily  used 
had  to  the  last  been  revolting  to  her.  Per- 
haps had  she  done  so  it  would  have 
weighed  little  with  her  in  her  present  tense 
pain  of  remorse. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         287 

One  hand  crept  slowly  over  her  dress; 
then  she  rose  and  was  moving  toward  the 
door  when  Masha  entered. 

"Where  are  you  going?"  she  asked, 
noting  the  strangeness  of  the  look  on  Ye- 
laina's  face. 

"To  change  this  dress." 

"What!  have  you  a  better  one?  Are 
you  not  satisfied  with  it?" 

"It  is  my  best,  but  I  am  not  satisfied 
with  it;  nor  with  this,  nor  this."  She 
touched  her  hair  and  the  ribbons  at  her 
breast.  "I  am  going  to  put  on  what  I 
wear  every  day." 

"You  are  not;  go  and  sit  down,"  said 
Masha,  for  once  feeling  herself  mentally 
the  stronger  of  the  two. 

"Xo,  Masha,  let  me  go;  what  is  the  use 
of  this  mean  lie?  I  have  sinned  enough— 
I  will  not  paint  my  face  as  if  for  hire!" 

Masha  burst  into  a  laugh. 

"Dear  Lord!  and  have  you  painted  your 
face?  Go  and  sit  down,  I  tell  you;  there 


288         THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

is  going  to  be  no  changing  of  that  dress  to- 
day!" 

Yelaina  hesitated,  and  stood  for  awhile 
drooping  by  the  table.  Perhaps  a  rem- 
nant of  desire  to  look  pleasing  in  his  eyes 
still  remained  with  her. 

"It  doesn't  matter — it  cannot  alter  any- 
thing," she  answered  wearily.  So  it  was 
that  she  had  crept  to  his  door  that  morn- 
ing, and  when  her  knock  had  remained 
unanswered,  had  entered,  bearing  the 
tea. 

And  now  he  was  gone,  and  the  day  had 
worn  on  to  afternoon,  and  night  was  al- 
most come  again.  She  had  not  moved 
from  her  seat ;  her  thoughts  had  been  active 
only  in  a  dull  listless  way  in  far-off  memo- 
ries of  her  father  and  her  girlhood  in 
Kazan.  The  world  had  gone  from  her 
now.  Life,  with  its  cautious  gentilities 
pursued  so  ardently  and  its  nebulous  be- 
liefs followed  so  f alteringly,  was  far  away 
from  her.  It  meant  now  only  this  fading 
thing  in  her  body  which  still  hurt. 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT         289 

She  rose  and  went  along  the  passage  to 
Masha's  room.  Though  she  knew  in  what 
state  she  would  find  her  at  this  hour,  she 
wished  to  say  good-by  to  her,  for  Masha 
in  her  way  had  always  heen  tender  and 
kind.  The  noise  of  heavy  breathing  came 
in  dull  drone  from  the  room;  and  in  the 
dusk  she  could  just  discern  Masha's  burly 
form  stretched  upon  the  bed.  For  a  mo- 
ment she  stood  by  her  holding  one  of  her 
helpless  hands.  "And  that  is  how  I  have 
been,"  she  thought.  "Poor  Masha!" 
Then  stooping,  she  kissed  the  unconscious 
face,  and  went  slowly  back  to  her  room. 

The  fire  in  the  stove  was  almost  out,  but 
from  a  little  pile  of  wood  she  made  it  up, 
and  having  opened  the  damper  to  its  limit, 
the  flames  under  the  strong  draught  were 
soon  noisily  making  the  thin  iron  sheeting 
of  the  stove  crackle  under  the  expanding 
heat.  By  the  light  from  the  stove  she 
wrote  on  a  scrap  of  paper:  "All  that  I 
have  I  leave  to  Masha."  It  sounded  a  lit- 
tle feeble  she  thought;  but  still  if  those  who 


290          THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT 

had  the  ordering  of  things  were  wicked 
enough  to  ignore  what  she  had  written, 
putting  it  in  more  legal  phraseology  would 
not  mend  matters.  Perhaps,  however,  it 
might  gain  obedience  from  the  position  in 
which  it  was  found ;  so  she  pinned  it  at  the 
head  of  the  bed  just  where  her  head  would 
be. 

The  stove  had  settled  down  into  a  red 
shimmering  glow ;  the  damper  was  now  too 
hot  to  touch,  so  that  she  had  to  cover  her 
hand  before  she  could  push  it  in  and  close 
the  connection  with  the  outer  air.  The 
sudden  stoppage  of  the  draught  caused  a 
puff  of  red  sparks  and  feathery  flakes  of 
ash  to  belly  out  into  the  room.  For  awhile 
she  stood  wearily  watching  them,  then 
crossing  the  room  she  lay  down  on  the  bed. 

Within  an  hour  the  red  embers  had 
fallen  to  a  little  heap  of  feathery  ashes 
which,  from  time  to  time,  puffed  into  the 
room  and,  gently  gyrating,  fell  softly 
upon  the  hearth. 

Yet  a  couple  of  hours  later  the  moon  had 


THE  INVISIBLE  MIGHT        291 

risen,  and  in  the  intense  frost  shone  from 
out  a  cross  of  silver,  and  in  its  softening 
light,  Sorrelka,  a  brown  dot  upon  the  great 
plain  of  snow,  appeared  almost  beautiful. 


THE  END 


THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  SOME  OF 
THE  NAMES  IN  THE  BOOK 


Yelaina    Grigorovna    Mar- 

dova 
Paul  Alexandritch  Mardoff 

Anna  Andreaovna 

Varvara  Stepanovna 

Andrea  Andreaitch 

Marya  Ivanovna 

Kireel  Paulitch  Bareetsa 

Ivan  Daviditch 

Vanooshka 

Seraphima 

Countess  Valletski 

Colonel  Lityainyiff 

Claudia  Paulovna  '    - 

General  Arseneiff 

Dr.  Solomin 

Liza 

Peotra . 

Koolic 

Slavyanski  Bazaar 

Nijni  Novgorod 

Borogooslan 

Aristanti 

Pavoska 

Troika 

Platyonka 

Oofa 

Sonika 


Yelain  -  a  Grigor'  -  ovna 
Mar'-dova.  » 

Paul  Alexand'-ritch  Mar'- 
doff. 

An'na  Andrey'-ovna. 

Varvar'-a  Stepan'-ovna. 

Andrey  Andrey'-itch. 

Mar-ya  Eevan'-ovna. 

Kireel  Paul-itch  Bareet'-sa. 

Eevan'  David'-itch. 

Van'-ooshka. 

Serapheem'-a. 

Countess  Vallet'-ski. 

Colonel  Lityain'-yiff. 

Claudia  Paul'-ovna. 

General  Arsen'-yeff. 

Dr.  Solo'-min. 

Lee'-za. 

Peot'-ra. 

Koo'-lic. 

Slavyan'-ski  Bazaar. 

Neezh'-ni  Nov-gorod. 

Bo'ro-gooslan'. 

Aristan'-tee. 

Pavos'-ka. 

Troy'-ka. 

Platyon'-ka. 

Oofa'. 

Soni'-ka. 


V-"*    I 

10  I/ 


A    000  131  125    7 


